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Giaches de Wert

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Giaches de Wert (also Jacques/Jaches de Wert, Giaches de Vuert; 1535 – 6 May 1596) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the late Renaissance, active in Italy. Intimately connected with the progressive musical center of Ferrara, he was one of the leaders in developing the style of the late Renaissance madrigal. He was one of the most influential of late sixteenth-century madrigal composers, particularly on Claudio Monteverdi, and his later music was formative on the development of music of the early Baroque era. Life Little is known about his early life, except that he was from Flanders, from either the vicinity of Ghent or Weert, near Antwerp. As a boy he went to Avellino in southern Italy, near Naples, where he became a choir boy in the chapel of Maria di Cardona, Marchesa of Padulla. Maria was the wife of Francesco d’Este, Marchese di Massalombarda, a captain under Charles V; Francesco was a son of the notorious Lucrezia Borgia, and her husband Alfonso I d’Este. Francesco was often in France and adjacent areas on military campaigns, and as an adjunct to these adventures he brought musically talented youths back to Italy with him. Wert’s association with the Este family was to endure

Giacinto Scelsi

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Giacinto Francesco Maria Scelsi, count d’Ayala Valva (; 8 January 1905 – 9 August 1988) was an Italian composer who also wrote surrealist poetry in French. He is best known for having composed music based around only one pitch, altered in all manners through microtonal oscillations, harmonic allusions, and changes in timbre and dynamics, as paradigmatically exemplified in his Quattro pezzi su una nota sola (“Four Pieces on a single note”, 1959). This composition remains his most famous work and one of the few performed to significant recognition during his lifetime. His musical output, which encompassed all Western classical genres except scenic music, remained largely undiscovered even within contemporary musical circles during most of his life. Today, some of his music has gained popularity in certain postmodern composition circles, with pieces like his “Anahit” and his String Quartets rising to increased prominence. Scelsi collaborated with American composers including John Cage, Morton Feldman, and Earle Brown, as well as being a friend and a mentor to Alvin Curran. His work was a source of inspiration to Ennio Morricone’s Gruppo di Improvvisazione di Nuova Consonanza, and his

Giacobbe Cervetto

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Giacobbe Basevi, known as Giacobbe Cervetto (1682 – 14 January 1783) was an Anglo-Italian Jewish musician, who was a leading cellist and composer for cello in 18th century England. Life According to the Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, little is known about his early life but he is thought to have been born in northern Italy. Burney referred to him as “a Venetian”. He first arrived in England in 1728, originally as a vendor of fine stringed instruments including violins of Stradivarius. In 1739/40, he settled in England and became solo cellist at the Drury Lane Theatre, where the musician and music historian Charles Burney met him when he joined the theatre’s orchestra in the season of 1744/45. He reported that Cervetto had “brought the violoncello into favour, and made us nice judges of that instrument.” Burney further wrote of Cervetto “He was an honest Hebrew, had the largest nose, and wore the finest diamond ring on the forefinger of his bow hand”, but considered him an indifferent performer. He played solos at the eight-year-old Mozart’s first public concerts in London. He also participated in the Bach-Abel concerts from 1765-1782. Cervetto maintained links with others of

Giacomo Antonio Perti

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Giacomo Antonio Perti (6 June 1661 – 10 April 1756) was an Italian composer of the Baroque era. He was mainly active at Bologna, where he was Maestro di Cappella for sixty years. He was the teacher of Giuseppe Torelli and Giovanni Battista Martini. Life He was born in Bologna, then part of the Papal States, and began studying music early, learning harpsichord and violin there; later he studied counterpoint. By the age of 17, he had already written a mass, a motet, and a setting of the Magnificat; and in 1678 he wrote his first opera and oratorio. During a stay in Parma, where he studied with Giuseppe Corsi da Celano, he formed his sacred music style; most of his psalm settings of the 1680s and 1690s show the influence of Corsi. Later he went to Venice, most likely for a production of one of his operas. In 1690 he was appointed to the post of Maestro di Cappella at S Pietro, replacing his uncle Lorenzo Perti. In 1696 he became Maestro di Cappella in another Bolognese church, S. Petronio, after the death of Giovanni Paolo Colonna the year before. He remained in charge for exactly sixty years, until his death at age 95. Perti was a prolific composer of operas and sacred music, and was

Giacomo Benvenuti (composer)

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Giacomo Benvenuti (16 March 1885, Toscolano – 20 January 1943, Barbarano-Salò) was an Italian composer and musicologist. Life and career He was the son of organist Cristoforo Benvenuti and studied at the Liceo Musicale (now the Conservatorio Giovanni Battista Martini) in Bologna under Luigi Torchi (musicology) and Marco Enrico Bossi (organ). In 1919 his collection of songs for voice and piano accompaniment, Canti a una voce : con accompagnamento di pianoforte, was published in Bologna. In 1922 he published a collection of 17th-century art songs entitled 35 Arie di vari autori del secolo XVII. Composer Samuel Barber studied the works of Giulio Caccini, Andrea Falconieri, and other early Italian composers under his tutelage in Milan in 1933–1934. For the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma he adapted Claudio Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo for a production which premiered on 27 December 1934. The adaptation was later used for the first recording of L’Orfeo in 1939, which included a performance by the orchestra of La Scala Milan under conductor Ferrucio Calusio. References

Giacomo Carissimi

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(Gian) Giacomo Carissimi (; baptized 18 April 160512 January 1674) was an Italian composer and music teacher. He is one of the most celebrated masters of the early Baroque or, more accurately, the Roman School of music. Carissimi established the characteristic features of the Latin oratorio and was a prolific composer of masses, motets, and cantatas. He was highly influential in musical developments in northern European countries through his pupils, like Kerll in Germany and Charpentier in France, and the wide dissemination of his music. Biography Carissimi’s exact birthdate is not known, but it was probably in 1604 or 1605 in Marino near Rome, Italy. Of his early life almost nothing is known. Giacomo’s parents, Amico (1548–1633, a cooper by trade) and Livia (1565–1622), were married on 14 May 1595 and had four daughters and two sons; Giacomo was the youngest. Nothing is known of his early musical training. His first known appointments were at Tivoli Cathedral, under the maestri di cappella Aurelio Briganti Colonna, Alessandro Capece and Francesco Manelli; from October 1623 he sang in the choir, and from October 1624 to October 1627 he was the organist. In 1628 Carissimi moved nort

Giacomo Cordella

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Giacomo Cordella (Naples, 25 July 1786 – Naples, 8 May 1847) was an Italian composer. Biography Cordella studied in Naples with Fedele Fenaroli and Giovanni Paisiello. first performed in 1813, an opera buffa featuring “a vivacious plot and a melody that flows agreeably”. Cordella composed also sacred music. Works Operas Other *La vittoria dell’Arca contro Gerico, cantata, Naples, 1804 *Manfredi trovatore, cantata, Naples, Teatro San Carlo, 6 July 1836 (in collaboration with other composers) *Il dono a Partenope, cantata, libretto by Giovanni Schmidt, Naples, Teatro San Carlo, 30 May 1840 (in collaboration with other composers) Cordella composed many other works, including masses, motets and works for small ensembles. References Notes Sources * * * *

Giacomo Facco

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Giacomo Facco (4 February 1676 – 16 February 1753) was an Italian Baroque violinist, conductor and composer. One of the most famous Italian composers of his day, he was completely forgotten until 1962, when his work was discovered by composer, conductor, and musicologist Uberto Zanolli. Biography Facco was born in Marsango, a small settlement near Padua and Venice in the Republic of Venice. For many years, he was a conductor in Italy. In 1705, he was employed in Palermo as choirmaster, teacher, and violin virtuoso to Carlo Antonio Spinola, Marquis of Los Balbases (the Viceroy of Sicily). In 1708, the viceroy transferred his residence to Messina, and Facco followed him. In Messina, he composed The Fight between Mercy and Incredulity. In 1710, he presented in Messina Cathedral his work The Augury of Victories, dedicated to King Felipe V. In a report dated 22 January 1720, the Patriarch of the West Indies, Cardinal Carlos de Borja de Centelles and Ponce of León, Archbishop of Trebisonda, wrote that Facco had an excellent pay in the court of the king of Spain (having rejected an offer, of equal pay, by the Portuguese court, where Spinola served as Spanish ambassador). On 9 February, Fa

Giacomo Fogliano

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Giacomo Fogliano (da Modena; also Jacopo, Fogliani; 1468 – 10 April 1548) was an Italian composer, organist, harpsichordist, and music teacher of the Renaissance, active mainly in Modena in northern Italy. He was a composer of frottole, the popular vocal form ancestral to the madrigal, and later in his career he also wrote madrigals themselves. He also wrote some sacred music and a few instrumental compositions. Life Giacomo Fogliano was the older brother of Lodovico Fogliano (c. 1475 – 1542). Lodovico, also a composer, was better known as a theorist. Giacomo was born in Modena, where he evidently spent most of his career. Details of his life are sketchy, but most of his years of employment and at least one of his journeys are known. Early in his life he was praised for his mastery of various instruments, particularly the organ and the harpsichord, and in 1479 he became organist at Modena Cathedral – an unusual achievement for a musician of 11. The records of the cathedral list him as maestro di cappella (singing master) also starting in that year, ending in 1497, at which time he vanished from the record, reappearing again in 1504, from which year he held the dual post of organist

Giacomo Gotifredo Ferrari

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Giacomo Gotifredo Ferrari (baptised 2 April 1763 – 2 December 1842) was born in Rovereto in the Italian Alps, and was an Italian composer and singing teacher who spent most of his career in France and England. Four of his operas, I due svizzeri, II Rinaldo d’Asti, L’eroina di Raab, and Lo sbaglio fortunato premiered in the King’s Theatre, London. He also composed two ballets, a Mass, and numerous piano sonatas. Principal works Operas * I due Svizzeri (opera buffa in one act, premiered King’s Theatre, London, 14 May 1799) * II Rinaldo d’Asti (opera buffa in two acts, premiered King’s Theatre, London, 16 March 1802) * L’eroina di Raab (opera seria in two acts, premiered King’s Theatre, London, 8 April 1813) * Lo sbaglio fortunato (opera buffa in one act, premiered King’s Theatre, London 8 May 1817) Ballets * Borea e Zeffiro (premiered King’s Theatre, London, 1805) * La dama di spirito a Napoli (premiered King’s Theatre, London, 1809) Books * Breve tratto di canto italiano, also published in English translation as Concise Treatise on Italian Singing (1818) * Studio di musica teorica pratica (1830) * Anedotti piacevoli e interessanti occorsi nella vita Giacomo Gotifredo Ferrari, da Rov

Giacomo Meyerbeer

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Giacomo Meyerbeer (born Jakob Liebmann Meyer Beer; 5 September 1791 – 2 May 1864) was a German opera composer, “the most frequently performed opera composer during the nineteenth century, linking Mozart and Wagner”. With his 1831 opera Robert le diable and its successors, he gave the genre of grand opera “decisive character”. Meyerbeer’s grand opera style was achieved by his merging of German orchestra style with Italian vocal tradition. These were employed in the context of sensational and melodramatic libretti created by Eugène Scribe and were enhanced by the up-to-date theatre technology of the Paris Opéra. They set a standard that helped to maintain Paris as the opera capital of the nineteenth century. Born to a wealthy Jewish family, Meyerbeer began his musical career as a pianist but soon decided to devote himself to opera, spending several years in Italy studying and composing. His 1824 opera Il crociato in Egitto was the first to bring him a Europe-wide reputation, but it was Robert le diable (1831) which raised his status to great celebrity. His public career, lasting from then until his death, during which he remained a dominating figure in the world of opera, was summari

Giacomo Puccini

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Family and education#

Born in Lucca in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, in 1858; he was the sixth of nine children of Michele Puccini (1813–1864) and Albina Magi (1830–1884). The Puccini family was established in Lucca as a local musical dynasty by Puccini’s great-great-grandfather – also named Giacomo (1712–1781). This first Giacomo Puccini, though often referred to as Jacopo, was maestro di cappella of the Cattedrale di San Martino in Lucca. He was succeeded in this position by his son, Antonio Puccini, there, he studied composition with Stefano Ronchetti-Monteviti, Amilcare Ponchielli, Amintore Galli, and Antonio Bazzini. He shared his dorm with Pietro Mascagni. Later that year, Puccini composed his Mass, marking the culmination of his family’s long association with liturgical music in his native Lucca.

Giacomo Rust

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Giacomo Rust or Rusti (1741 in Rome, Italy – 1786 in Barcelona, Spain) was an Italian opera composer, probably of German ancestry. Not a great deal is known about Rust. Between 1763 and 1777, Rust was active in Venice, where his first opera, a dramma giocoso, La contadina in corte, to a libretto by Niccolò Tassi, was performed in 1763. During this period, Rust acquired great fame as opera composer, not only in Italy, but also abroad, which gained him an invitation to be employed in the service of the Archbishop of Salzburg. On 12 June 1777, he was named a choir master at the Salzburg court, a post that he abandoned towards the end of the year. Some time later, Rust returned to Venice to continue his operatic activity. In 1783, he settled down in Barcelona, where he assumed the office of the Maestro de capilla. Works The following is the list of the operas composed by Rust. Notes References * Bauman, Thomas and Hintermaier, Ernst (1992), “Rust, Giacomo” in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, ed. Stanley Sadie (London) External links *

Giacomo Tritto

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Giacomo Domenico Mario Antonio Pasquale Giuseppe Di Tritto (2 April 1733 – 16 September 1824) was an Italian composer, known primarily for his fifty-four operas. He was born in Altamura, and studied in Naples; among his teachers were Nicola Fago, Girolamo Abos, and Pasquale Cafaro. Amongst his pupils were the young Vincenzo Bellini around 1821, plus Ferdinando Orlandi. He died in Naples. Biography Giacomo Tritto was born in Altamura. He began studying music at the Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini in Naples, where his teachers included Nicola Fago, Girolamo Abos, and Pasquale Cafaro. Also in Naples, in 1754, he began his career as an opera composer with the performance of the opera buffa Le nozze contrastate at the Teatro dei Fiorentini. However, advised by his teacher Cafaro not to continue his just-begun theatrical career, he left the stage for about ten years. He resumed opera composition in 1764 with the staging of Fedeltà in amore at the Teatro Nuovo (Naples). From that point on, until 1810, he composed no fewer than 54 operas. Operas *Le nozze contrastate (opera buffa, 1754, Naples) *La fedeltà in amore (opera buffa, libretto by Francesco Cerlone, 1764, Naples) *Li furbi

Gialdino Gialdini

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Gialdino Gialdini (10 November 1842 – 6 March 1919) was an Italian composer and orchestra conductor. Gialdini was born in Pescia, Grand Duchy of Tuscany, and studied at Florence with Teodulo Mabellini. He won a prize offered by the Pergola Theatre of that city for the best opera, with Rosmunda, which met, however, with an unfavourable reception when produced in 1868. After two more operas he tired of composing operas and started conducting opera productions, to international acclaim. In 1889 he conducted Wagner’s Lohengrin at Bologna. Later he returned to composing operas. In September 1904 he became the Artistic Director of the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in the then Austrian city of Trieste but had to abandon the post when Italy entered the war against Austria in May 1915. He then returned to his native Pescia for retirement, and died there aged 76. Works *Rosmunda (opera, premiered 5 March 1868 at the Teatro Pergola, Florence) *La secchia rapita (opera buffa, premiered 1872 at the Teatro Goldoni, Florence) *l’Idolo cinese (opera buffa, premiered 1874 at the Teatro delle Logge, Florence) *I due soci (opera buffa, premiered 24 February 1892 at the Teatro Brunetti, Bologna) *La Pu

Giammateo Asola

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Giammateo Asola (also spelled Gian Matteo, Giovanni Matteo; Asula, Asulae; 1532 or earlier – 1 October 1609) was an Italian composer of the late Renaissance. He was a prolific composer of sacred music, mostly in a conservative style, although he may have been one of the first composers to write a part for basso continuo. Life He was born in Verona, and began studying at San Giorgio in Alga in 1546 in the congregation of secular canons. While in Verona he most likely studied with Vincenzo Ruffo. In 1569 he became a secular parish priest, and in 1577 became maestro di cappella at Treviso Cathedral; however, in 1578 he went to Vicenza Cathedral to take the equivalent job there, where the pay and musical opportunities were greater. He only stayed there four years, going to Venice in 1582, which was the center of activity in northern Italy for sacred music. Except for a short return to Verona c. 1590–1591, he lived in Venice until his death, working at the church of S Severo, as one of four chaplains; apparently he was never associated with St. Mark’s. Music and influence Asola was a rare case of a composer working in Venice who showed almost no stylistic influence from the Venetian sch

Giampaolo Coral

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Giampaolo Coral (22 January 1944 – 17 February 2011) was an Italian composer. Life Coral was born on 22 January 1944 in Trieste. He began his musical career at age 14 as an organist in his native city of Trieste. After graduating in piano at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory in Venice, he began his career as a substitute teacher at the Teatro Comunale Giuseppe Verdi in Trieste (1967–1973) and as a music consultant to the Teatro Stabile del Friuli Venezia Giulia and Veneto Teatro (1977–1985). He was also active as a choir director and as a teacher of “choral exercises” at the Giuseppe Tartini Conservatory of Music in Trieste (1971–2001). From 1982 he was a member of the Società Italiana degli Autori ed Editori the Italian Society of Authors and Publishers (SIAE). Giampaolo Coral was essentially self-taught, but his spiritual teachers were Arnold Schoenberg and Franco Donatoni, with whom he had a long friendship. He was the Artistic Director of the City of Trieste Music Prize, an international competition of musical composition and a member of the Federation of International Music Competitions of Geneva. In 1987 he founded an association in Trieste (Chromas – the Association of Con

Gian Carlo Menotti

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Gian Carlo Menotti (; ; July 7, 1911 – February 1, 2007) was an Italian composer, librettist, director, and playwright who is primarily known for his output of 25 operas. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship and never officially became an American citizen. One of the most frequently performed opera composers of the 20th century, he wrote his most successful works in the 1940s and 1950s. Highly influenced by Giacomo Puccini and Modest Mussorgsky, Menotti further developed the verismo tradition of opera in the post-World War II era. His father was a businessman and his mother a talented amateur musician. He spent three years studying at the conservatory, during which time he frequently attended operas at La Scala, which cemented his lifetime love for the artform. That same year, he met fellow Curtis schoolmate Samuel Barber, who became his partner in life as well as in their shared profession. As a student, Menotti spent much of his time with the Barber family in West Chester, Pennsylvania, and the two also spent several summer breaks in Europe attending opera performances in Vienna and in Italy while studying at Curtis. A cri

Gian Domenico Partenio

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Gian Domenico Partenio () In 1672, he composed the music for Cristoforo Ivanovich’s La costanza trionfante, which premiered at Venice’s San Moisè church. Partenio collaborated frequently with the librettist Matteo Noris. In November 1681, their opera Flavio Cuniberto was performed for the first time in the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo. It premiered in 1669 at the Santi Giovanni e Paolo church, and has music also attributed to Antonio Cesti. Compositions *Il Genserico, libretto by Nicolò Beregan (premiered 1669; attributed) *La costanza trionfante, libretto by Cristoforo Ivanovich (premiered 1672) *Flavio Cuniberto, libretto by Matteo Noris (premiered 1681; revised in 1687) *Dionisio, libretto by Matteo Noris (premiered 1681; acts 2 & 3) *La bugia regnante, libretto by Nicolò Minato (premiered 1682; act 1) References

Gian Francesco de Majo

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Gian Francesco de Majo (24 March 1732 – 17 November 1770) was an Italian composer. He is best known for his more than 20 operas. He also composed a considerable amount of sacred works, including oratorios, cantatas, and masses. Life and career Born in Naples, Majo was the son of composer Giuseppe de Majo. He began his musical education with his father and then studied with his uncle Gennaro Manna and his great uncle Francesco Feo. At the age of 13 he became the harpsichordist at the royal chapel in Naples and at 15 began helping his father with his duties there as maestro di cappella. In 1758 he was made second organist at the royal chapel. On 7 February 1759 his first opera, Ricimero, re dei goti, premiered in Parma. This was soon followed by a series of successful operas mounted in Naples. In 1761 and 1763 Majo traveled to Northern Italy, where he presented several of his compositions and studied for a short period with Giovanni Battista Martini. After a short time in Naples, he went to the court in Vienna, where he was commissioned to write the opera Alcide negli orti esperidi for the coronation of Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor. He then spent some time in Mannheim and Madrid bef

Gian Francesco Malipiero

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Gian Francesco Malipiero (; 18 March 1882 – 1 August 1973) was an Italian composer, musicologist, music teacher and editor. Life Early years Born in Venice into an aristocratic family, the grandson of the opera composer Francesco Malipiero, Gian Francesco Malipiero was prevented by family troubles from pursuing his musical education in a consistent manner. His father separated from his mother in 1893 and took Gian Francesco to Trieste, Berlin and eventually to Vienna. The young Malipiero and his father broke up their relationship bitterly, and in 1899 Malipiero returned to his mother’s home in Venice, where he entered the Venice Liceo Musicale (now the Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello di Venezia). After stopping counterpoint lessons with the composer, organist and pedagogue Marco Enrico Bossi, Malipiero continued studying on his own by copying out music by such composers as Claudio Monteverdi and Girolamo Frescobaldi from the Biblioteca Marciana, in Venice, thereby beginning a lifelong commitment to Italian music of that period. Musical career In 1905 Malipiero returned to Venice, but from 1906 to 1909 was often in Berlin, following Max Bruch’s classes. Later, in 1913, Ma

Gian Paolo Chiti

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Gian Paolo Chiti (21 January 1939 – 27 March 2026 ) was an Italian composer and pianist. His teachers included Carlo Zecchi, Arturo Bonucci, and Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli. In 1960, Chiti won prizes in the Treviso and the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition. Chiti has had a dual career as a composer and concert pianist. He often performed alongside his late wife, mezzo-soprano Patricia Adkins Chiti. He composed works for film and television as well as concerts and festivals in Italy and abroad. His compositions have featured at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Venice Biennale, the Edinburgh International Festival, and the Lutosławski Festival. Since 1984, Chiti has served as the Director of the Composition Department at the Conservatorio of Santa Cecilia in Rome. He is also a member of the Italian National Committee for Dance and serves on the faculty boards of several universities. Chronological works list This list includes all serious concert music composed by Gian Paolo Chiti, including works for young musicians. It does not include transcriptions and arrangements, film and television scores or popular works. * Zoological Garden (solo piano – young performers

Gian Pieretti

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Dante Luca Pieretti (born 12 May 1940), better known as Gian Pieretti, is an Italian singer-songwriter and composer, mainly successful in the second half of the 1960s. Life and career Born in Ponte Buggianese, in 1963 Pieretti released his first single “Perduto Amor” as Perry, before adopting the name Gian Pieretti for his second single “Ciao”, released the same year. In 1964, he started performing accompanied by I Grifoni, a band consisting of future Premiata Forneria Marconi members Franco Mussida, Giorgio Piazza and Franz Di Cioccio. Discography ;Album * 1967 - Se vuoi un consiglio * 1969 - Il viaggio celeste di Gian Pieretti * 1973 - Il vestito rosa del mio amico Piero * 1975 - Cianfrusaglie * 1989 - Don Chisciotte * 1992 - Bang * 1993 - Il vento dell’Est * 1997 - Caro Bob Dylan… * 2011 - Tatanka Yotanka * 2013 - Cinquant’anni da poeta * 2019 - Nobel References External links * * *

Gian Piero Reverberi

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Gian Piero Reverberi (; born 29 July 1939) is an Italian pianist, composer, arranger, conductor, and entrepreneur. Biography After obtaining Diplomas in piano and composition from the Paganini Conservatory in Genoa, Reverberi worked in a wide range of media, including TV themes, spaghetti Western soundtracks to pop and rock records, where, with Robert Mellin, he composed the memorable music to the children’s TV series The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe in 1964. He created the Rondò Veneziano ensemble. He also worked with his brother Gian Franco on the song “Last Men Standing” (or “Nel cimitero di Tucson”) from the soundtrack of Django, Prepare a Coffin (Preparati la bara!), which was sampled in Gnarls Barkley’s hit “Crazy”. As a producer, Reverberi worked for New Trolls and Le Orme progressive rock bands, being also listed as one of the official members of the latter for a short stint. In the 1960s-1970s he was also the producer of several albums of singer-songwriters such as Lucio Battisti, Fabrizio De André, Luigi Tenco and Gino Paoli. In 1979, he founded the Rondò Veneziano chamber orchestra, which he has led ever since, having been the main composer, arranger, and conductor of t

Gianandrea Gavazzeni

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Gianandrea Gavazzeni (25 July 19095 February 1996) was an Italian pianist, conductor (especially of opera), composer and musicologist. Gavazzeni was born in Bergamo. For almost 50 years, starting from 1948, he was principal conductor at La Scala, Milan, from 1966 to 1968, being its music and artistic director. He had his Metropolitan Opera debut on 11 October 1976. He conducted eight performances of Giuseppe Verdi’s Il trovatore that year at the Met. His compositions include concertos such as ‘Concerto bergamasco’; ‘The Song of St Alexander’; and sonatas. His last wife was the soprano Denia Mazzola-Gavazzeni. In January 1993, at age 83, he conducted Jules Massenet’s Esclarmonde at Teatro Massimo di Palermo, with his wife singing the title role. It was the first time he had conducted this opera. Gianandrea Gavazzeni died on 5 February 1996. References External links *Biography of Gianandrea Gavazzeni *New York Times, Gavazzeni’s death announcement

Giancarlo Bigazzi

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Giancarlo Bigazzi (5 September 1940 – 19 January 2012) was an Italian music producer and composer. He was a former member of comedy music group Squallor. Life and career Born in Florence, he was one of the best known Italian songwriters and lyricists of the 1970s and 1980s. He wrote some of the most successful Italian pop records, many of which became international hits, such as “Gloria”, “Self Control”, “No Me Ames”, “Tu”, “Take the Heat off Me”, and “Ti amo”. He was also a film score composer; among his soundtracks are Forever Mary, Boys on the Outside and the Academy Award-winning Mediterraneo. He began his career at a very young age, writing major hits for Riccardo Del Turco (“Luglio”), Caterina Caselli (“Il carnevale”), Mario Tessuto (“Lisa dagli occhi blu”), and Renato dei Profeti (“Lady Barbara”). Throughout the 1970s, Bigazzi established himself as a prolific lyricist and composer, often collaborating with Totò Savio on songs for Massimo Ranieri (“Vent’anni”, “Erba di casa mia”), and with Gianni and Antonio Bella on hits for Marcella Bella (“Montagne verdi”, “Io domani”, “Nessuno mai”, “Un sorriso e poi perdonami”) and Gianni Bella (“Non si può morire dentro”, “No”, “Più ci

Giandomenico Martoretta

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Giandomenico Martoretta (also Giandominico, La Martoretta, Il Martoretta; Mileto 1515–1560s?) was an Italian Renaissance composer. Little is known of his life, but the style of the dedication of the “master of theology” Giovanfrancesco di Chara in the second book indicates that Martoretta may have been minor gentry or member of an academy. But the preface to the third book of madrigals reveals that he had made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and stayed in Cyprus as guest of a certain noble cavaliere, Piero Singlitico. His first book of madrigals was written in the rapid note nere, black note, style introduced by Constanzo Festa. Theodor Kroyer (1902) believed that Martoretta’s madrigals demonstrated chromatic keys. Editions *Il primo libro di madrigali cromatici a quattro voci (1548) Gardano, Venice. *Il secondo libro di madrigali cromatici a quattro voci (1552) edited by Maria Antonella Balsano, Firenze, 1988 (Musiche Rinascimentali Siciliane Vol.11). *Il terzo libro di madrigali cromatici a quattro voci (1554) References

Gianluca Cascioli

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Gianluca Cascioli (born 17 July 1979 in Turin) is an Italian pianist, conductor, and composer. He studied composition at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Turin and piano with Franco Scala. In 1994, Cascioli won the Umberto Micheli International Piano Competition, whose jury included Luciano Berio, Elliott Carter, Charles Rosen, and Maurizio Pollini. The prize included a record contract with Deutsche Grammophon, for which he recorded three CDs in his late teens. He has appeared as a piano soloist with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, and numerous other orchestras worldwide. Conductors he has worked with include Claudio Abbado, Roberto Abbado, Myung-Whun Chung, Riccardo Muti, Lorin Maazel, Valery Gergiev, Zubin Mehta, Roberto Carnevale, Mstislav Rostropovich, Neville Marriner, and many others. His chamber-music partners have included Maxim Vengerov, Mstislav Rostropovich, Stefano Mollo, the Berlin Philharmonic Octet, and many others. He has conducted the Deutsche Kammerorchester Frankfurt, and among compositions of his to be performed are a Sonatina

Gianluigi Gelmetti

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Gianluigi Gelmetti OMRI, (11 September 1945 – 11 August 2021) was an Italian-Monégasque conductor and composer. Early life Gianluigi Gelmetti was born on 11 September 1945 in Rome, Italy. When 16 years old, Sergiu Celibidache let him conduct an orchestra, then took him as a pupil. He subsequently studied with Franco Ferrara and Hans Swarowsky. In 1967 he won the “Firenze” prize. Career Following his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Gelmetti regularly performed as a conductor at international opera houses, concert halls, and festivals. From 1989 to 1998 he was the Principal Conductor of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra as well as the Schwetzingen Festival; and from 2000 to 2009, Musical and artistic director of Teatro dell’Opera di Roma. From 2004 to 2008 he was the Principal Conductor and artistic director of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. In 2012, he was appointed Principal Conductor of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, a post that he held until 2016. He was then named Chef Honoraire for life and was awarded the Monaco citizenship by H.S.H. Prince Albert II. While at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma he led some lesser-known or rediscovered lyric works; t

Gianluigi Trovesi

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Gianluigi Trovesi (born 1944) is an Italian jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. He has won various Italian jazz awards. He also teaches in Italy. Early life Trovesi was born in Nembro near Bergamo in Lombardy in 1944. Later life and career In 1978 Trovesi won the “RAI TV National Competition for Saxophone and Clarinet” in 1978, and the Critics’ National Prize for his debut album, Baghet. He won Best Italian Disc for the albums Dances (1985), From G to G (1992) and Les Hommes Armés (1996). Trovesi has toured, recorded and performed with Anthony Braxton, Misha Mengelberg, Horace Tapscott, Steve Lacy, Evan Parker, Kenny Wheeler, Mark Dresser, Han Bennink, Tony Oxley and Günter Sommer. Trovesi is a member of the Italian Instabile Orchestra and performs in a duo with accordionist Gianni Coscia. He teaches in Italy. Discography As leader * * * * * * * * w/ Gianni Coscia * * * w/ Gianni Coscia * * * * w/ Gianni Coscia * * * w/ Gianni Coscia * w/ Anat Fort As contributor * * * * * * * *Marche jazz orchestra, year =1989 “Dies Irae”, Philology * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Filmography * Il cortile della musica (The Music Court), (2010) References

Gianni Bedori

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Gianni Bedori (25 November 1930 – 21 January 2005), also known as Johnny Sax, was an Italian jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, flautist and composer. Career Born in Mantua, Bedori graduated in clarinet at the Conservatorio Giovanni Battista Martini in Bologna and started his career with singer . He became first known in 1963, when he started a twenty years-long collaboration with composer Giorgio Gaslini. and was a guest on his 1974 album Clic released on the Island Records label. Discography ;Albums * 1969 – Johnny Sax incontro con Bob Mitchell (PDU) * 1971 – Sortilege (Sun Records, SUld 13004) * 1973 – International hits collection – Vol. I (PDU, Pld.A 5055) * 1973 – International hits collection – Vol. II (PDU, Pld.M 5086) * 1973 – Hit parade – Vol. I (Produttori Associati, PAF/LP/3005) * 1973 – Successi sempreverdi – Vol. II (Produttori Associati, PAF/LP/3006) * 1973 – Liscio parade – Vol. III (Produttori Associati, PAF/LP/3007) * 1974 – Johnny Sax – Vol. IV (Produttori Associati, PAF/LP/3009) * 1974 – Dedicated to Picasso – A solo Album (PDU, Pld.A 5074) * 1975 – Johnny Sax – Vol. V (Produttori Associati, PAF/LP/3014) * 1976 – Non stop 1 (Produttori Associati, SAX/1715) * 1976 –

Gianni Bella

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Giovanni “Gianni” Bella (born 14 March 1947) is an Italian composer and singer-songwriter, the brother of singer Marcella Bella. Background Born in Catania, Bella started his career as composer for his sister, singer Marcella Bella authoring several hits with lyricist Giancarlo Bigazzi. In the seventies he debuted as a singer himself, scoring his first major success in 1974 with the song “Più ci penso”, which ranked second in the Italian hit parade. In 1976 he topped the hit parade In 1981 he entered the competition at the Sanremo Music Festival with the song “Questo amore non si tocca”; he returned in Sanremo five more times between 1986 and 2007, three times in couple with his sister Marcella. Discography Studio albums * 1974 - Guarda che ti amo (Derby) * 1976 - Sogni di un robot (Derby) * 1977 - Io canto e tu (Derby) * 1978 - Toc toc (CGD) * 1980 - Dolce uragano (CGD) * 1981 - Questo amore… (CGD) * 1983 - G.b.1 - Nuova gente (Avventura) * 1984 - G.b.2 (Avventura) * 1986 - Una luce (RCA Italiana) * 1988 - Due cuori rossi di vergogna (Polydor) * 1991 - La fila degli oleandri (Fonit Cetra) * 1994 - Vocalist (Fonit Cetra) * 1998 - Finalmente insieme (with Marcella Bella) (Pull/Fue

Gianni Ferrio

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Gianni Ferrio (16 November 1924 – 21 October 2013) was an Italian composer, conductor and music arranger. Life and career Born in Vicenza, Ferrio studied at the conservatories of Vicenza and Venice. Starting in the late 1950s, he was active as a composer of film scores. He composed some 120 soundtracks, mostly for Spaghetti Westerns and commedie sexy all’italiana films. Ferrio is also well known for his work in pop music, particularly for his collaboration with Mina, for whom he composed hit songs such as “Parole parole” and wrote arrangements and orchestrations for many songs and albums. The last collaboration with Mina was on her 2012 album 12 (American Song Book), for which Ferrio provided the string arrangements. Ferrio served as conductor for the Sanremo Music Festival in 1959 and 1962, for the Eurovision Song Contest 1965, and for several Italian TV shows. He died on October 21, 2013 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. Selected filmography *Who Hesitates Is Lost (1960) *Toto, Fabrizi and the Young People Today (1960) *A Dollar Of Fear (1960) *Gentlemen Are Born (1960) *Hercules in the Valley of Woe (1961) *5 marines per 100 ragazze (1961) *Appuntamento in Riviera (1962) *The Two Colonels

Gianni Marchetti

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Gianni Marchetti (Rome, 7 September 1933 – Rome, 10 April 2012) was an Italian composer and songwriter. He collaborated with Piero Ciampi, lyricist Mogol, singer Bobby Solo and others. Early life Gianni Marchetti was born on 7 September 1933, Rome, Italy. He enrolled in the musical institution Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in his early life to study piano in Rome. As a composer and conductor, he began his career in 1956. Career Gianni Marchetti contributed to the soundtracks of around forty films. He also composed a number of solo albums including solstitium and equinox. At the Sanremo Music Festival in 1965, the winning song was “Se piangi, se ridi”. Gianni Marchetti was involved in its composition, and collaborated with Bobby Solo and Mogol. In some of his work, he has also used the alias’s Joe Dynamo and John Servus. Of the latter, through the distribution of the RCA, he produced the work Evening in 1977 which has been used in multiple productions, such as a commercial for the deoderant Bac, the films love duro e violento, Le notti porno nel mondo n 2, and for the anime Attack No. 1’s Italian opening theme. Selected filmography Bibliography * See also * Piero Ciampi * Bob

Gianni Meccia

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Giovanni “Gianni” Meccia (2 June 1931 – 9 April 2024) was an Italian composer, singer-songwriter, record producer and actor. He was often associated with Jimmy Fontana. Life and career Born in Ferrara, in 1950 Meccia moved to Rome to pursue an acting career, eventually only getting some bit roles in some RAI TV series. An autodidact guitarist specialized in composing black humorous and nonsense songs, he was first noted by lyricist Franco Migliacci and later by Mario Riva, and had his breakout in 1959 with the song “Odio tutte le vecchie signore”, which he launched in the Riva’s popular music show Il Musichiere. In 1961 he took part in the eleventh edition of the Sanremo Music Festival with “Patatina”, and had a good success with “Cha-cha dell’impiccato”, a duet with his friend and frequent collaborator Jimmy Fontana. Filmography Actor * Moana, Virgin of the Amazon (1955) * Ragazzi del Juke-Box (1959) as Gianni * Nel blu dipinto di blu (1959) as Plainclothesman * Howlers in the Dock (1960) as Gianni aka Satana * Io bacio… tu baci (1961) as The Singer with a grey Pullover * Eighteen in the Sun (1962) * Canzoni in… bikini (1963) as Himself * Djurado (1969) as Ricky - Guitar Playe

Gică Petrescu

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Gică Petrescu (; 2 April 1915 – 18 June 2006) was a prolific Romanian folk music composer and performer. Born in Bucharest, he made his debut at age 18 by joining a student band, having just graduated from the Gheorghe Șincai High School in his native city. His official debut was made by performing for radio audiences in 1937. Between 1937 and 1939, he carried on singing with the Radu Ghindă and Dinu Șerbănescu orchestras at the Sinaia Casino in the Carpathian Mountains. Some music critics have compared his talent and public appeal to the likes of Frank Sinatra or Maurice Chevalier. His showmanship and charm were able to attract audiences of all ages, while his music influences combine folk with classical orchestra arrangements. He holds the record for the number of most original (composed and performed) songs (over 1,500), in an amazingly varied discography, many of which became national hits and which were covered again and again by other Romanian artists. Some of those hits are: *Căsuța noastră (Our Little House) *București, București (Bucharest, Bucharest) *Dă-i cu șprițul pân’ la ziuă (Drink Spritz Until Daylight) *Du-mă acasă, măi tramvai (Take Me Home, Tram) *Uite-așa aș vre

Gideon Klein

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Gideon Klein (6 December 1919 – c. January 1945) was a Czech pianist, classical music composer, educator and organizer of cultural life at Theresienstadt concentration camp. Klein was murdered in the Holocaust. Life Klein was born into a Moravian Jewish family in Přerov and, showing musical talent early, studied piano with Růžena Kurzová and Vilém Kurz, and composition with Alois Hába (in 1939–1940). He was forced to abort his university studies in 1940 when the Nazis closed all institutions of higher learning following their occupation of Czechoslovakia in March 1939. Since compositions and performances by Jewish musicians were banned, his own works could not be performed, though he managed to perform as a concert pianist under several aliases for a time, e.g., under the pseudonym Karel Vránek. Despite those harsh circumstances Klein managed to continue composing. In 1940 he was offered a scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music in London, but by that time anti-Jewish legislation prevented his emigration. In December 1941 he was deported by the Nazis to Theresienstadt Ghetto concentration camp, where along with Leoš Janáček’s pupil Pavel Haas, Hans Krása, and Schoenberg’s pupil V

Gil Grand

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Gil Grand (born Gilles Lagrandeur, January 8, 1968) is a Canadian country music singer. Since 1998, he has released three studio albums: Famous First Words (1998), Burnin (2002) and Somebody’s Someone (2006). He has charted several singles on the Canadian country singles charts as well, including the RPM top ten single “Famous First Words” in 1998. Career In 1998, Grand signed a record deal with Monument Records’ Nashville division. His debut album, Famous First Words, helped him receive three Canadian Country Music Awards nominations including Male Vocalist of the Year, Album of the Year and Wrangler Rising Star. Burnin was released in December 2002. “Cry A Little,” “Break It to Them Gently,” “Run” and the title track were all released as singles. Grand earned five CCMA nominations in 2003 including Single of the Year, SOCAN Song of the Year, Video of the Year, and Best Album Graphics, and won Independent Male Artist of the Year. He released his third album, Somebody’s Someone, in March 2006. In 2006, Grand and his younger brother Jake joined forces for Raise the Roof, a tour that took them from British Columbia to Ontario, raising awareness of Ronald McDonald House Charities. Gra

Gil Shohat

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Gil Shohat (; born 7 September 1973) is an Israeli classical music composer, conductor, pianist and lecturer. Biography Gil Shohat was born in Tel Aviv. His mother is Ha’aretz theatre critic Tzipora (Tzipi) Shohat. He grew up in Ramat Gan. As a child, he attended a music program for gifted children at Tel Aviv University. His father is an Iraqi Jew. He earned his BM and MM from the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music at Tel Aviv University in 1991-1995. In 1995-1997, he studied piano and composition at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, and the following year studied with Alexander Goehr of Cambridge University. Shohat lives in Jaffa with his life partner. Music career His first orchestral work was performed by the Israel Chamber Orchestra when he was 18. In the army, he served as commander of the Israel Defense Forces Chamber Orchestra. Shohat has composed numerous symphonies, concertos, operas, and chamber and solo compositions. Awards and recognition Shohat was named Knight in the Order of Arts and Letters of France in 2009. Selected works :Shohat’s works are published by Casa Ricordi, Israel Music Institute, Israeli Music Center, OR-TAV Music Publications and Gil Shoh

Gil Trythall

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Harry Gilbert Trythall (October 28, 1930 – February 17, 2023) was an American composer, electronic music pioneer, keyboardist, pianist of jazz and contemporary classical music, a lifelong educator, and a multimedia enthusiast. He often collaborated with artists (notably Prof. Don Evans (Vanderbilt-Nashville) to create engrossing public experiences. Dr. Trythall founded the Electronic Music Plus Festival in the late 1960s and hosted events at universities across the United States. As a musician, Trythall is best known for his experiments and compositions in electronic music. For instance, “Planet” by Four Tet and “myriad.industries” by Oneohtrix Point Never sample his 1980 compositions “Echospace” and “Luxicon II”. As a twentieth century composer of both traditional and electronic works, Gilbert Trythall combined the large scale sonorities reminiscent of Paul Hindemith and Wallingford Riegger with the expanded capabilities of both electronic and conventional instruments. His Symphony No. 1 (1958) is a demanding work for large orchestra, and his Hecuba and Polyxena of the same period is a severe, brilliant twelve-tone work. Beginning with the Moog synthesizer in the early 1960s, Tryt

Gilad Hochman

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Gilad Hochman (Hebrew: גילעד הוכמן; born 26 July 1982 in Herzliya) is an Israeli composer of contemporary classical music based in Berlin, Germany. * S&R Washington Award, Washington D.C., USA (2017) * Cambridge Chamber Singers Composition Competition, USA – 1st Prize (2018) * Mandolin Composition Competition by Edition 49, Germany – 2nd Prize (2023) * North Carolina NewMusic Initiative Orchestral Composition Competition, USA – 1st Prize (2024) * American Viola Society – Gardner Competition for Composers, USA – 2nd Prize (2026) Grants Hochman’s work has received support from the Goethe-Institut, Austrian Cultural Forum, America-Israel Cultural Foundation, the Adele and John Gray Endowment Fund, Yehoshua Rabinovich Arts Foundation, Zfunot Tarbut, and the Ronen Arts Fund. External links * Official website

Gilardo Gilardi

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Gilardo Gilardi (May 25, 1889 – January 16, 1963) was an Argentine composer, pianist, and conductor who was the eponym of the Gilardo Gilardi Conservatory of Music in La Plata, Buenos Aires. He was born in San Fernando, Argentina and first learned music from his father before studying with the composer Arturo Berutti in Buenos Aires. He began composing as a teenager and he premiered his first opera, Ilse, at Teatro Colón opera house, aged 23. He co-founded the group Renovación (Renovation) in 1929, but left three years later, in 1932. He was professor at the University of La Plata and wrote an elementary course on harmony. Gilardi experimented with the pentatonic scale and Americas’ Indigenous music. Some of their works are the operas Ilse (1923) and La leyenda del Urutaú (The legend of the Urutaú) (1935), Primera serie argentina, (First Argentine series), Evocación quechua, Gaucho con botas nuevas (Gaucho with new boots) (1938, orchestra), a symphonic poem which won a national prize in 1939. Among his religious music Réquiem (1933) and Misa de Gloria (Glory Mass) (1936) are particularly esteemed. He also composed chamber music pieces: Sonata for violin and piano, Songs for voice a

Gilbert Amy

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Gilbert Claude Adolphe Amy (born 29 August 1936) is a French composer and conductor. Career Born in Paris, Amy entered the Conservatoire de Paris in 1954, where he was taught and influenced by Olivier Messiaen and Darius Milhaud and studied piano with Yvonne Loriod and fugue with Simone Plé-Caussade. His first composition (Œil de fumée) dates from 1955. In 1957 he met Pierre Boulez, under whose direction he composed his Piano Sonata. A year later Boulez commissioned from him a work called Mouvements, which was performed in Darmstadt by the Orchestre du Domaine musical. From 1958 to 1961 he attended the Darmstädter Ferienkurse given by Karlheinz Stockhausen, and developed a style highly influenced by the trend of serialism. In 1962 Jean-Louis Barrault named him adjunct music director of the Odéon Theater in Paris. At the same time he undertook a career as conductor in Europe and Argentina. Between 1967 and 1973 he was the director of the Domaine Musical, succeeding Pierre Boulez. From 1973 to 1975 he was music advisor to ORTF and worked to “reform” the music heard on the radio. From 1976 to 1981, he was music director of the Nouvel Orchestre Philharmonique of Radio France. In 1984,

Gilbert Biberian

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Gilbert Emanuel Biberian (19 February 1944 – 27 January 2023) was a British guitarist and composer. Born in Istanbul, Turkey of Greek-Armenian heritage. Biberian’s ethnic roots was integral to his compositions. He studied at Trinity College of Music, graduating in 1968. In 1965 a French Government grant took him to France to study with Ida Presti and Alexandre Lagoya. He studied composition with James Patten, Elisabeth Lutyens and Hans Keller, as well as widening and enriching his musical knowledge by working with non-guitarists Anthony Kinsella (piano) and Vic Bennett (clarinet). Biberian has played at the Proms, at Covent Garden and has performed concertos and given solo recitals worldwide. He has always enthusiastically encouraged and championed the creation of new compositions for guitar. New works have been written for and/or dedicated to him (for solo and ensemble) by James Patten, Elisabeth Lutyens, Reginald Smith Brindle, Alfred Nieman, Charles Camilleri, David Bedford, Roger Williams, Glen Morgan, Robert Keeley, Jeffrey Joseph, Kenneth Paige, Daniel Sturm, Vojislav Ivanovic, Betty Roe, Ivor Mairants, Geoffrey Burgon, Aurelio Peruzzi, Judith Bingham, Monique Cecconi-Botella

Gilbert Vinter

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Gilbert Vinter (4 May 1909 – 10 October 1969) was an English conductor and composer, most celebrated for his compositions for brass bands. Life Vinter was born in Lincoln. As a youth, he was a chorister at Lincoln Cathedral, and eventually became Head Chorister there. He later became a bassoonist, playing in Thomas Beecham’s newly-formed London Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1930, he joined the BBC Military Band, where he did much of his early conducting. It was during that time that he also began to compose. During World War II, Vinter played in The Central Band of the RAF and later led several other RAF bands. He was conductor of the BBC Midland Light Orchestra, and the first principal conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra, from 1952 to 1953. In 1960, The Daily Herald newspaper and sponsors of brass band contests, commissioned Vinter to write his first major work for brass band, the result of which was Salute to Youth. Vinter was an adjudicator at the British Open Championships at Belle Vue, Manchester, in 1969 where his Spectrum was the test piece. Midway through the contest, however, he was forced to retire from ’the box’ due to his failing health. His position at the contest on t

Gilberto Mendes

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Gilberto Mendes (13 October 1922 – 1 January 2016) was a 20th-century Brazilian avant-garde composer, and one of the pioneering fathers of the company New Consonant Music. Biography Gilberto Mendes was born in Santos, Brazil, in 1922. He studied piano with Antonieta Rudge and harmony with Sabino de Benedictis. The influence of Villa-Lobos is evident in his early works, in some way preceding the advent of bossa nova in his early songs. His contact with the poets of the Noigandres group gave him the ideological inspiration to feed his talent. Mendes’s compositions include cantatas, motets, orchestral music, incidental music, solo and chamber pieces, and some avant-garde works. Most of them are published by Alain Van Kerckhoven Editeur. In 1965, he founded the Santos New Music Festival. In the 1970s and 1980s, he taught at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and the University of Texas, then was a professor of music at the University of São Paulo (USP). Discography * Francisco Mignone, Almeida Prado, Gilberto Mendes - I Bienal De Música Contemporânea Brasileira - Disco 3 (LP) Not On Label SCM1003 1975 * Fernando Cerqueira (2), Gilberto Mendes, Lindemberque R. Cardoso, Radamés Gnatta

Gilda Lyons

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Gilda Lyons (born January 11, 1975, Rhinebeck, New York) is an American composer, vocalist, and visual artist who writes music that “combines elements of renaissance, neo-baroque, spectral, agitprop Music Theater, and extended vocalism”. Education and early career Lyons attended Bard College, where she studied with Joan Tower and Daron Hagen, and in 1997 received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Composition, Vocal Performance, and Visual Arts. She then attended the University of Pittsburgh, where she studied with Eric Moe and Anne LeBaron, and received a Master of Arts degree in Music Composition and Theory in 2001. She studied with Daria Semegen and Peter Winkler at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, receiving a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 2005. Lyons also studied voice, first at Bard with Arthur Burrows, then privately with heldentenor Barry Busse. American Opera Projects in New York City chose her doctoral dissertation, “The Walled Up Wife” (opera, libretto and music by Lyons, 2005), for development and concert premiere. Her critically successful 2015 opera, A New Kind of Fallout, commissioned and premiered by the Opera Theater of Pittsburgh with a libretto by

Gilda Ruta

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Gilda Ruta (13 October 1853 – 26 October 1932) was an Italian pianist, music educator and composer. Biography Countess Gilda Ruta Cagnazzi was born in Naples, the daughter of composer Michele Ruta and English singer Emilia Sutton. She studied music with her father and with the opera composer Saverio Mercadante and became a noted pianist. She played before Queen Margherita of Italy at the Constanzi Theater in Rome (now Teatro dell’Opera di Roma) and won a gold medal at the International Exposition in Florence. After being widowed at age of 27 with two children, she began composing. She moved to New York City, taught private piano lessons in Greenwich Village, and died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Manhattan at age 79. Works Ruta produced more than 125 works for voice and piano, and also composed for opera. Selected works include: *Scherzo for pianoforte *Voglio guarire, melodia romantica *Tempo di Gavotta e Musette for pianoforte *Canto melanconico for contralto and basso *La Gavotta per pianoforte *Partirai!! canto for mezzo-sop and baritono *Alle stelle melodia romantica *Canzone marinaresca for soprano *Allegro appassionato for pianoforte *Per te! canto *Dolci memorie! melodia *Dam

Giles Farnaby

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Giles Farnaby (c. 1563 – November 1640) was an English composer and virginalist whose music spans the transition from the Renaissance to the Baroque period. Life Giles Farnaby was born about 1563, perhaps in Truro, Cornwall or near London. His father, Thomas, was a Cittizen and Joyner of London, and Giles may have been related to Thomas Farnaby (c. 1575–1647), the famous schoolmaster of Kent, whose father was a carpenter. But it was his cousin Nicholas Farnaby (c. 1560–1630), who may have turned him to music. Nicholas was a virginal maker, at this time a generic word that included the entire family of plucked keyboard instruments: the harpsichord, virginal, muselar and doubtless the clavichord, and it is for these instruments that Farnaby’s compositions are best known. Like his father however, Giles trained as a joiner or cabinet-maker, starting his apprenticeship in about 1583, and gave this trade as his occupation for most of his life. He married Katherine Roane on 28 May 1587, and first lived in the parish of St. Helen’s Bishopsgate, in London. The couple had a daughter, Philadelphia, baptised on 8 August 1591, when the Farnabys moved to the neighbouring parish of St Peter’s, We

Giles Swayne

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Giles Oliver Cairnes Swayne (born 30 June 1946 in Hertfordshire) is a British composer. Biography Swayne spent much of his childhood in Liverpool, and began composing at a young age. He was educated at Ampleforth College and at Cambridge University, where he worked with Raymond Leppard and Nicholas Maw before spending three years at the Royal Academy of Music as a student of Harrison Birtwistle, Alan Bush and, once again, Maw. During the years 1976 to 1977 he attended several of Olivier Messiaen’s classes at the Paris Conservatoire and from 1981 to 1982 made a study visit to the Gambia and southern Senegal – a formative experience he put to creative use as composer-in-residence to the London borough of Hounslow, 1980–83. Together with his second wife, the Ghanaian, Naaotwa Codjoe, he lived in a village near Accra, Ghana, from 1990 to 1996. Swayne is a cousin of Elizabeth Maconchy and Nicola LeFanu. He married violinist Malu Lin in 2002. Selected compositions * CRY, opus 27 for 28 solo voices and electronics, commissioned by the BBC and premiered in 1980 (recorded on the label NMC by the BBC Singers conducted by John Poole) * Magnificat, 1982 * String Quartets 1 – 3 (1971 to 1993) *

Gilet Velut

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Gilet Velut () was a French composer of the early Renaissance. Life and career Velut was a petit vicaire (’little vicar’) at Cambrai Cathedral from 1409 through 1411. He went with Charlotte of Bourbon to Cyprus in 1411; serving in the role of a chaplain. Nothing else is known for certain about the life of this composer. Music Vilet has been suggested as the composer for all secular music in the Codex Cyprius . Works Editions Velut’s work is included in the following collections: * References Notes Citations Sources * * External links *

Gilles Bellemare (composer)

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Gilles Bellemare (born 29 March 1952, Shawinigan) is a Canadian composer, conductor, and music educator. He has been commissioned to write music for more than 30 professional ensembles internationally, many of which have been recorded or performed on CBC Radio under his baton. He has also written a number of film scores and is an associate of the Canadian Music Centre. In 1977 he was awarded the William St Clair Low Award by the Composers, Authors and Publishers Association of Canada. In 1978 he assumed the post of principal conductor and artistic director of the Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières, a post he held until 2004. Under his leadership, the orchestra produced several commercial recordings and premiered works by such contemporary Canadian composers as Timothy Brady, Jacques Faubert, Anne Lauber, and Myke Roy. Bellerme studied at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Trois-Rivières from 1968 to 1978, where he earned premier prizes in harmony (1972), percussion (1974), and music composition (1978). Among his most influential teachers at the school were percussionist Thomas Cavanagh and music theorist Armando Santiago. In the summer of 1977 he studied composition with

Gilles Binchois

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Gilles de Bins dit Binchois (also Binchoys; c. 1400 – 20 September 1460) was a Franco-Flemish composer and singer of early Renaissance music. A central figure of the Burgundian School, Binchois is a renowned melodist and miniaturist; he generally avoided large scale works, and is most admired for his shorter secular chansons. Contemporary musicologists generally rank his importance below his colleague Guillaume Du Fay and the English composer John Dunstaple, but together the three were the most celebrated composers of the early European Renaissance. Binchois was born in Mons (modern-day Belgium) to an upper-class family from Binche. His youth is largely unknown, although early chorister training is likely; by late 1419 he had obtained a local organist post. By 1423 he was in Lille and probably a soldier under the Englishman William de la Pole, eventually in Paris and Hainaut. Sometime during the 1420s, Binchois settled in the culturally thriving court of Burgundy under Philip the Good, where he became a subdeacon and was awarded numerous prebends. He retired to Soignies in 1453 amid a substantial courtly pension, dying in 1460. It is thought that considerably more of his sacred mus

Gilles Gobeil

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Gilles Gobeil (born September 27, 1954) is an electroacoustic music composer from Sorel-Tracy, Quebec, Canada, and currently living in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Gobeil received his musical education at the Université de Montréal (Mmus in Composition). Gobeil is professor for music theory at the Cégep de Drummondville and was guest professor for electro-acoustics at the Université de Montréal and at the Conservatoire de Montréal. His works have been performed in concerts throughout Canada and abroad. Gobeil is a member of the Canadian Electroacoustic Community (CEC), Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre (CMC) and co-founder of the concert organization Réseaux des Arts Médiatiques, an organization for the production of media arts events. Gobeil is known for his industrial soundscapes and the incorporation of live instruments (in particular the ondes martenot) deep within the electroacoustic medium. Gobeil has received numerous scholarships and commissions from institutes and festivals including ZKM Karlsruhe, GRM Paris, Ars Electronica Linz, ICMC Beijing, and the Banff Center, and his works have won many awards. His approach is similar to the “cinema pour l’oreille” (cinem

Gilles Joye

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Gilles Joye (1424 or 1425 – 31 December 1483) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance. A member of the Burgundian school, he was known mainly for his secular songs which were in a lyrical and graceful style. Life He may have come from Kortrijk, since an Oliver Joye, possibly his father, has been identified there in 1420. Gilles seems to have had an excellent musical education, probably at either Kortrijk or Bruges, where he was hired as a singer in 1449. Documents from the cathedral archives show that he was often in trouble: engaging in street brawls, frequenting brothels, refusing to take part in regular singing events, and in particular visiting a notorious prostitute of the town named “Rosabelle”. In spite of these activities, he was made a priest, and became a canon at Cleves in 1453 and at St. Donatian in 1459. Between 1454 and 1459 no record of his activities survives in the Low Countries; based on his composition of an Italian ballata on a poem by a contemporary Florentine, it has been suggested that he spent some time in Italy, as did so many other Franco-Flemish composers of his and succeeding generations. By 1459 he was back at St. Donatian in Bruges. In 1462 he

Gilles Jullien

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Gilles Jullien (c. 1651/165314 September 1703) was a French Baroque composer and organist. He is credited with bringing the style of French organ music then current in Paris to Chartres. Almost nothing is known about Jullien’s life or training. His burial certificate indicates he was 50 or slightly younger when he died, so he must have been born between 1651 and 1653. It is assumed that he became organist of the Chartres Cathedral on 6 December 1667. The date is questionable, but the fact that Jullien was appointed organist of the cathedral while still very young is indisputable. He occupied this position until his death in Chartres in 1703. He was succeeded at the cathedral by his eldest son, Jean-François Jullien. All of Jullien’s surviving music is contained in his Premier Livre d’orgue (Paris, 1690). It consists of around 80 pieces (most influenced by Nicolas Lebègue’s work), organized into eight organ suites in the eight church modes. According to the preface, these works were intended for liturgical use, but the only link to the liturgy is a fugue on Ave maris stella. The suites also contain several four- and five-voice fugues that reflect Jullien’s studies of counterpoint, b

Gilles Reingot

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Gilles Reingot (French: Gillequin de Bailleul; fl. 1501–1530) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance, associated with the Habsburg court of Philip I of Castile. He was a close associate of composer Pierre de La Rue. Life After first serving as a sommelier for Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, then an infant, Reingot became part of the grande chapelle of Philip I. He first appears in the records of the Habsburg chapel singers in November 1501, in a master list of singers compiled prior to Philip’s first trip to Spain. Reingot went on the trip, as part of the musical ensemble which was one of the most distinguished in Europe; they were in Spain for part of 1502, and singing again in France later that year. Reingot went on Philip’s second trip to Spain as well, the infamous trip which was to prove fatal to Philip, and fatal to the sanity of his wife, Joanna the Mad. In September 1506, when Philip died of a fever in Spain, many of the singers of the grande chapelle departed, mostly going back to France or the Netherlands, but Reingot was one of the ones who remained behind, along with Pierre de La Rue. For the next several years they took part in Juana’s bizarre journey across C

Gilles Tremblay (composer)

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Gilles Tremblay, (September 6, 1932 – July 27, 2017) was a Canadian composer and teacher. Early life and education Born in Arvida, Quebec, Tremblay studied at the conservatories of Québec in Montréal and Paris (1954–61), where his teachers included Olivier Messiaen (analysis), Andrée Vaurabourg-Honegger (counterpoint), Yvonne Loriod (piano), and Maurice Martenot (inventor of the ondes Martenot). He also attended Karlheinz Stockhausen’s summer courses at Darmstadt, where he became interested in electro-acoustic techniques. Career Tremblay returned to Quebec in 1961. He taught musical analysis at the and at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec in Quebec City. Beginning in 1962, and for many years, he taught composition at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal. Among his pupils are , Raynald Arseneault, Yves Daoust, François Dompierre, Marc Hyland, Ramon Lazkano, Robin Minard, Éric Morin, Silvio Palmieri, Micheline Coulombe Saint-Marcoux, , André Villeneuve, Claude Vivier, and Wolf Edwards. Early in his career he performed as a specialist on the ondes Martenot. A central figure in Quebec’s contemporary classical music scene, Tremblay was active in many capacities includi

Gillian Bibby

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Gillian Margaret Bibby (31 August 1945 – 7 August 2023) was a New Zealand composer, pianist, writer and teacher. Bibby was born in Lower Hutt, New Zealand on 31 August 1945, the daughter of the Reverend Lawrence Vincent Bibby and Margaret Valerie Bibby (née Davidson). She studied at the University of Otago and Victoria University of Wellington with Douglas Lilburn. She continued her studies in Berlin and Cologne with Aloys Kontarsky, Mauricio Kagel and Karlheinz Stockhausen. In 1976, Bibby returned to New Zealand to take up a two year Mozart Fellowship at the University of Otago in Dunedin. Bibby relocated to Wellington in 1978 and worked as a pianist, composer, music teacher and university lecturer. Bibby was active in several music-related organisations, serving as president and chair, and founded the CHAMPS Trust to offer opportunities for youth in music. She was awarded the Philip Neill prize in composition, the Kranichsteiner prize in composition and the Darmstadt prize for new music. In the 2020 New Year Honours, Bibby was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to music and music education. Bibby died in Wellington on 7 August 2023, at the age of 7

Gillian Whitehead

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Dame Gillian Karawe Whitehead (born 23 April 1941) is a New Zealand composer. She is of Māori Ngāi Te Rangi descent. Her Māori heritage has been an important influence on her composing. Early life Whitehead was born in Hamilton in 1941. The daughter of Ivan and Marjorie Whitehead, she is of Ngāi Te Rangi descent. Her father was a music teacher and conductor of the Waipu Choral Society and her mother played the piano. Education She studied at the University of Auckland from 1959 to 1962, and Victoria University of Wellington in 1963, graduating BMus(Hons) in 1964. She then studied composition at the University of Sydney with Peter Sculthorpe from 1964–65, graduating MMus in 1966. That same year she attended a composition course given by Peter Maxwell Davies and in 1967 travelled to England to continue studying with him. She took up the Mozart Fellowship at the University of Otago in 1992. From 1998 to 2003 she was president of the Composers Association of New Zealand. In 2005–2006 she was the Composer in Residence at the New Zealand School of Music at Victoria University. She was the first Composer in Residence to stay at the Lilburn Residence. In 2009 Whitehead was one of the 2009

Ginette Keller

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Ginette Keller (16 May 1925 - 27 June 2010) was a French composer. Biography Keller was born in Asnières-sur-Seine. She studied at the Conservatoire de Paris with Nadia Boulanger, Tony Aubin and Olivier Messiaen. In 1951 she won the Second Prix de Rome with her cantata Et l’Homme vit se rouvrir les portes and in 1957 won second prize in the Queen Elisabeth Competition. She taught aural training at the “Conservatoire” and analysis and counterpoint at the École Normale de Musique in Paris. She has composed for solo instruments, chamber and orchestral music. She has also written two operas with librettos by Alain Germain. Selected works *Six chants de Lumière et d’Ombre for winds quartet, 1965 *Variables, premiered in 1966 *Chant de Parthénope for flute & piano, 1968 *Girations for percussion & piano, 1970 *Graphiques for soprano and ensemble, premiered at Festival International du Son 1971 *Ebauches for bassoon & piano, 1973 *Les Vieilles Dames d’Osnabrück, Opera, premiered in 1983 *Les adieux d’une cantatrice sans mémoire, Opera, premiered in 1986 *Vibrations pour harpe celtique, 1990 *Dialogues for clarinet & piano, 1992 *Sept mouvements incantatoires for four percussions, drums, c

Gino Marinuzzi

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Gino Marinuzzi (24 March 188217 August 1945) was an Italian conductor and composer, particularly associated with the operas of Wagner and the Italian repertory. Biography Marinuzzi was born and studied in Palermo, graduating from the Palermo Conservatory. He began his career in Palermo as well, conducting the local premieres of Tristan und Isolde in 1909, and Parsifal in 1914. He then appeared in Rome and Milan, where he conducted several local premieres (mostly Wagner operas) and many revivals of rarely performed operas such as Lucrezia Borgia, La straniera, Beatrice di Tenda and L’incoronazione di Poppea. In 1930, he conducted the world premiere of Ildebrando Pizzetti’s Lo straniero. He made guest appearances at the Paris Opéra, the Royal Opera House in London, and the Monte Carlo Opera, where he conducted the world premiere of Puccini’s La rondine in 1917. He was artistic director of the Chicago Opera Association from 1919 to 1921, and the Rome Opera from 1928 to 1934. He conducted opera at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires during seven seasons between 1915 and 1933. This included the Western Hemisphere premieres of Puccini’s La rondine (first version) in 1917 and Turandot in Jun

Gioacchino Cocchi

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Gioacchino Cocchi (circa 1712 – 11 September 1796) was a Neapolitan composer, principally of opera. Cocchi was probably born in Naples in about 1712, although his place of birth has also been given as Padua. His first works were performed in Naples and in Rome; the most successful was La maestra, written in Naples in 1747. It was performed at the Teatro Nuovo sopra Toledo of that city in the spring of 1747, and at the Teatro Formagliari of Bologna in October of the same year; on 11 March 1749 it was given at the King’s Theatre in London, and in 1752 at the Teatro de’ Fiorentini of Naples, with the title La scaltra governante. It was performed as La scaltra governatrice at the Académie de Musique in Paris on 25 January 1753, and as Die Schulmeisterin in 1754 at the Schlosstheater in Berlin. The work established a solid international reputation for Cocchi. He was in Venice from 1749 to 1757; there he became maestro di cappella of the Ospedale degli Incurabili, standing in for Vincenzo Legrenzo Ciampi, who had been given permission to visit London for an extended period. While in Venice, he taught composition to Andrea Lucchesi, who later was appointed Kapellmeister in Bonn. Cocchi tr

Gioachino Rossini

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Early life#

Rossini was born on 29 February 1792 in Pesaro, a town on the Adriatic coast of Italy that was then part of the Papal States. He was the only child of Giuseppe Rossini, a trumpeter and horn player, and his wife Anna, née Guidarini, a seamstress by trade, daughter of a baker. Giuseppe Rossini was charming but impetuous and feckless; the burden of supporting the family and raising the child fell mainly on Anna, with some help from her mother and mother-in-law. Stendhal, who published a colourful biography of Rossini in 1824, wrote: Giuseppe was imprisoned at least twice: first in 1790 for insubordination to local authorities in a dispute about his employment as town trumpeter; and in 1799 and 1800 for republican activism and support of the troops of Napoleon against the Pope’s Austrian backers. In 1798, when Rossini was aged six, his mother began a career as a professional singer in comic opera, and for a little over a decade was a considerable success in cities including Trieste and Bologna, before her untrained voice began to fail. In 1802 the family moved to Lugo, near Ravenna, where Rossini received a good basic education in Italian, Latin and arithmetic as well as music. He studied the horn with his father and other music with a priest, Giuseppe Malerbe, whose extensive library contained works by Haydn and Mozart, both little known in Italy at the time, but inspirational to the young Rossini. He was a quick learner, and by the age of twelve, he had composed a set of six sonatas for four stringed instruments, which were performed under the aegis of a rich patron in 1804. Two years later he was admitted to the recently opened Liceo Musicale, Bologna, initially studying singing, cello and piano, and joining the composition class soon afterwards. He wrote some substantial works while a student, including a mass and a cantata, and after two years he was invited to continue his studies. He declined the offer: the strict academic regime of the Liceo had given him a solid compositional technique, but as his biographer Richard Osborne puts it, “his instinct to continue his education in the real world finally asserted itself”. While still at the Liceo, Rossini had performed in public as a singer and worked in theatres as a répétiteur and keyboard soloist. In 1810 at the request of the popular tenor Domenico Mombelli he wrote his first operatic score, a two-act operatic dramma serio, Demetrio e Polibio, to a libretto by Mombelli’s wife. It was publicly staged in 1812, after the composer’s first successes. Rossini and his parents concluded that his future lay in composing operas. The main operatic centre in northeastern Italy was Venice; under the tutelage of the composer Giovanni Morandi, a family friend, Rossini moved there in late 1810, when he was eighteen.

Giorgio Antoniotto

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Giorgio Antoniotto (Giorgio Antoniotto d’Adurni; 1680–1766), was an Italian musician, who is noted as the author of a musical treatise, L’arte armonica, and as an early composer of music for violoncello. Birth, ancestry, and early life A descendant of a Milanese branch of the noble Genoese Adorno family, Giorgio Antoniotto was born in Milan in 1680 to Bernardo Antoniotto and Maria Teresa Pavitte. His baptism, reported in the records of the church of S. Matthia della Moneta, took place on May 10, 1681. He was well educated and became highly accomplished in the arts, languages, mathematics, and music. A Spanish sympathizer against the Austrians in the War of the Spanish Succession, he was forced to flee Italy and entered the Spanish service where he was engaged many times but not wounded. Leaving the Spanish service, he taught in the arts at Geneva, frequenting the courts of Europe at Vienna, Paris, Madrid, and Lisbon. Marriage and family In Paris, he married a lady named Percival and they had several children, all of whom died in their infancy. His wife also died, leaving him a widower. The given name of his wife and details of the children’s lives have not been found. Later life At

Giorgio Battistelli

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Giorgio Battistelli is an Italian composer of contemporary classical music. Early life and education Giorgio Battistelli was born in Albano Laziale, Italy. He studied at the conservatory in L’Aquila, and is a former student of Stockhausen and Kagel. Career By 2009, Battistelli had written nearly 20 operas, on subjects ranging from Diderot and d’Alembert’s Encyclopaedia to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. In November 2009 he was artistic director of the Jerwood Opera Writing Programme hosted by Aldeburgh Music in England. Battistelli’s opera Wake was premiered by the Birmingham Opera Company in March 2018 and is inspired by the story of Lazarus being brought back from the dead. He was artistic director of the Cantiere Internazionale d’Arte di Montepulciano, the Orchestra Regionale Toscana. He has been director of the music section of the Venice Biennale. His music is published by Ricordi and recordings available on Stradivarius. Recognition and awards In 1990 Battistelli won the SIAE award for an opera, and in 1993 the Cervo Prize for contemporary music. He was awarded the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic on 27 December 2020. Stage works References

Giorgio Federico Ghedini

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Giorgio Federico Ghedini (11 July 189225 March 1965) was an Italian composer. In addition to orchestral works, in 1949 he premiered a one-act opera based on Billy Budd by Herman Melville. Life Ghedini was born in Cuneo in 1892. He studied organ, piano and composition in Turin, then graduated in composition from the Bologna Conservatory under Marco Enrico Bossi in 1911. He worked as a conductor for a certain time, then he gave up to devote himself to teaching. He worked as a teacher of composition at the Turin Conservatory (1918–1937), Parma Conservatory (1937–1941), and finally the Milan Conservatory (1951–1962). Among his pupils, the most eminent were Marcello and Claudio Abbado, Luciano Berio, Guido Cantelli, Niccolò Castiglioni, Carlo Pinelli, and Fiorenzo Carpi. Guido Cantelli conducted the NBC Symphony Orchestra in a 2 February 1952 broadcast concert of Ghedini’s Pezzo concertante for two violins, viola, and orchestra. He died in Nervi, near Genoa, in 1965. Style The composer was a deep lover of ancient music; he transcribed many works by such composers as Girolamo Frescobaldi, Claudio Monteverdi, and Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli. Ghedini’s works are often inspired by music fr

Giorgio Mainerio

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Giorgio Mainerio (c. 1530s – 3 or 4 May 1582) was an Italian musician, composer, and occultist. He started his career as a presbyter and would only later start his musical career in the 1560s. Most of the songs he composed were in the 1570s and were mainly church music. He dabbled in occultism and was later investigated for it. Before his death, he suffered from health issues. Biography Mainerio was born in Parma, Italy between 1530 and 1540. His father is thought to have been Scottish given that Giorgio signed Mayner as his family name. During his education, he studied music, but he did not immediately begin a musical career. In 1560, being a presbyter, he sought work as a chaplain and altarista by the church of Santa Maria Annunziata in Udine. In Udine, Mainerio spent ten years (from 1560 to 1570) and there, thanks to his previous musical knowledge and to the lessons given to him by two local contrapuntists, Gabriele Martinengo (Maestro di cappella from 1562 to 1567) and Ippolito Chamaterò (Maestro di cappella from 1567 to 1570), he started his musical career. After three years in Udine he became interested in occultism (astrology, magic and necromancy) and there were rumours tha

Giorgio Miceli

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Giorgio Miceli (21 October 1836 in Reggio Calabria – 1895, Italy) was an Italian opera composer who played mandolin and wrote music for the instrument. He was the composer for the operetta Zoe and for the music A Grand Serenade for Mandolin Band. * Zoe * Amanti sessagenarli * Conte di Rossiglione * Convito di Baldassare * Fata * Feodora * Fidanzata * Jefte * (La figlia di) Leggenda di Pisa * Rapimento * Serena * Somnambule References

Giorgio Nottoli

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Giorgio Nottoli (born 1945) is an Italian composer, musician and academic. Born in Cesena in 1945 he completed his musical studies at the Conservatory “G. Rossini” in Pesaro. He studied composition with Domenico Guaccero and Mario Bertoncini, guitar with Carmen Lenzi Mozzani and electronic music with Walter Branchi. Self-taught as a designer and researcher, has completed his apprenticeship in science, collaborating with various researchers, including Giuseppe di Giugno, Guido Guiducci and Silvio Santoboni. From 1968 he worked as a performer (lute and guitar) until 1975 and as a composer and researcher so far. Since 1975, conducts research in the field of science and technology, in the field of acoustics and computer music. Teaching activities He was professor of electronic music at the Conservatory of Frosinone “L.Refice” from 1974 until 2003. He was Professor of Electronic Music at the Conservatory of Rome “Santa Cecilia” from 2004 until 2013. At this Institute from 2006 to 2013, he served continuously in charge of coordinating the Department’s “New Technologies and Music”. Always at the Conservatory in Rome, he was a member of the Academic Council from 2010 to 2013. From 1999 to

Giorgio Pacchioni

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Giorgio Pacchioni (born 16 July 1947) is an Italian performer, professor, and composer. Life He has held the chair of recorder at the Conservatorio Giovanni Battista Martini in Bologna (Italy) from 1977 to 2006, when he retired and moved to Ubatuba (Brazil). Pacchioni is a musicologist specializing in the revival of Baroque composition in the modern era, and has gained a following over the Internet for his Neo-Baroque compositions and fugues. Giorgio Pacchioni has promoted the music of Francesco Antonio Vallotti through both his performances and compositions. He actively collaborated with the musical association “Antiqua” on the transcription of Girolamo Dalla Casa’s Secondo libro de Madrigali a cinque voci con i passaggi (Venice 1590): in fact, he recomposed the whole Tenore partbook, which is missing from the only extant copy of the original print. The CD based on this opus, performed by “Il terzo suono” conducted by G.P.Fagotto, has won the “Speciale raccomandazione della giuria del premio discografico internazionale A.Vivaldi”. Pacchioni is also a well known ocarina maker. Works Works published by Ut Orpheus Edizioni 28 Preludi per Flauto Dolce solo in forma di progressione mus

Giorgos Hatzinasios

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Giorgos Hatzinasios (also spelled Hadjinasios; , ; born 19 January 1942) is a Greek songwriter and composer. Early life Hatzinasios was born in Thessaloniki. His father was Agapios Hatzinasios, a native of Nigrita, Serres and a music professor of Thessaloniki’s State Conservatory and a renowned saxophonist. His mother was Anna Zografou, a native of Galatista in Chalkidiki. His paternal grandfather, also Georgios Hatzinasios and a graduate from the Phanar Greek Orthodox College, was a merchant and visited the Holy Land at a young age with his father, Athanassios. This is the source of the surname (‘Χατζής’ - Hajj and Αθανάσιος - Athanasios combined). His maternal grandfather, Themistoklis Zografos, was a hagiographer from Mount Athos. Giorgos Hatzinasios began piano lessons at the age of six at the Macedonian Conservatoire and later moved on to the State Conservatory of Thessaloniki and then the Athens Conservatoire. He later studied in Paris where he studied composition, orchestration and conducting. Career By the age of fourteen, he had already achieved notability as a pianist, with a particular interest in jazz and Greek music. Since 1972, he has achieved much recognition in Gree

Gioseffo Guami

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Gioseffo Guami (27 January 1542 – 1611) (Gioseffo Giuseppe Guami or Gioseffo da Lucca) was an Italian composer, organist, violinist and singer of the late Renaissance Venetian School. He was a prolific composer of madrigals and instrumental music, and was renowned as one of the finest organists in Italy in the late 16th century; he was also the principal teacher of Adriano Banchieri. Life He was born in Lucca, and was the brother of Francesco Guami (born 1543). Little is known about his early life, but he must have received some early training for he came to St. Mark’s in Venice, one of the most prestigious musical institutions in Italy, in 1561; there he studied with Adrian Willaert and Annibale Padovano, and served as a singer. In 1568 he left Venice and went to Bavaria, serving as first organist at the court of Albrecht of Bavaria, the location of the famous Franco-Flemish composer Orlande de Lassus. In the early 1570s he returned to Italy, at least temporarily, and accompanied by Lassus at least once; and he was hired as organist in Lucca in 1579, where he stayed until 1582 or later. In 1585 he was working as maestro di cappella in Genoa. Precise details of his movements are un

Gioseffo Zarlino

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Gioseffo Zarlino (31 January or 22 March 1517 – 4 February 1590) was an Italian music theorist and composer of the Renaissance. He made a large contribution to the theory of counterpoint as well as to musical tuning. Life and career Zarlino was born in Chioggia, near Venice. His early education was with the Franciscans, and he later joined the order himself. In 1536 he was a singer at Chioggia Cathedral, and by 1539 he not only became a deacon, but also principal organist. In 1540 he was ordained, and in 1541 went to Venice to study with the famous contrapuntist and maestro di cappella of Saint Mark’s, Adrian Willaert. In 1565, on the resignation of Cipriano de Rore, Zarlino took over the post of maestro di cappella of St. Mark’s, one of the most prestigious musical positions in Italy, and held it until his death. While maestro di cappella he taught some of the principal figures of the Venetian school of composers, including Claudio Merulo, Girolamo Diruta, Giovanni Croce, the famous reactionary polemicist Giovanni Artusi, as well as Vincenzo Galilei, the father of the astronomer Galileo Galilei. Works and influence While he was a moderately prolific composer, and his motets are po

Gioseppe Caimo

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Gioseppe Caimo (also Giuseppe) (c. 1545 – between September 6, 1584 and October 31, 1584) was an Italian composer and organist of the Renaissance, mainly active in Milan. He was a prolific composer of madrigals and other secular vocal music, and was one of the most prominent musicians in Milan in the 1570s and early 1580s. Life He was born in Milan. No biographical details about his early life are known, but he was evidently a precocious composer, for his first publication was a book of four voice madrigals in 1564, written when he was probably in his late teens, and one of his compositions was probably performed for Emperor Maximilian when he was in Milan in 1563. This piece, Alli figliuoli del Sereniss. Re Massimigliano d’Austria Eccelsa e generosa prole degna, No. 5 in his 1564 publication, is taken by Alfred Einstein as evidence he was already renowned in his home city at this young age. Einstein called it “a fine, sonorous music to be played in the open.” Caimo was organist at the church of San Ambrogio Maggiore in Milan from 1564, as indicated on the title page of his madrigal book of that year, probably until 1580 when he became the organist at Milan Cathedral. During the 15

Giovan Gualberto Brunetti

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Giovan Gualberto Brunetti (Pistoia, 24 April 1706 – Pisa, 20 May 1787) was an Italian composer. Biographical Information Giovan Gualberto Brunetti studied violin with Atto Gherardeschi in Pistoia, and beginning in 1723 was the student of Giovan Carlo Maria Clari in Pisa. In 1728, Brunetti left in order to study violin at the Pietà dei Turchini Conservatory in Naples, where he was instead forced to study voice performance as a tenor. In 1733, he composed a comic opera, but his operatic career did not take off. Brunetti earned a living as a singer in Neapolitan churches until he was hired as the Chapel Master for the Duke of Monte Nero, who brought him to Sicily for 6 months, where he composed a serenata for the arrival of Charles of Bourbon in Messina (1735), as well as at least two comic operas on Pietro Trinchera’s librettos. and also worked for the Cavalieri of Santo Stefano; he resume his career in theater, using librettos by Gennaro Antonio Federico and Pietro Metastasio, achieving success in Lucca as well. At least three of the five children of Giovan Gualberto were musicians (among them became famous Antonio and Giuseppe, himself father of another Antonio) ) and the Palatina

Giovanna Bruna Baldacci

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Giovanna Bruna Baldacci (19 November 1886 – ? after 1910) was an Italian composer, pianist and poet. She studied piano and composition at the Istituto Musicale in Florence with Francesco Cilea and Moretti. After completing her studies, Baldacci worked as a concert pianist in Italy and Switzerland. She also taught choral singing and contributed articles to professional journals. In 1910 she won first prize for composition in an Italian Lyceum competition, for her work Madrigale. Life Giovanna Bruna Baldacci was born on 19 November 1886 in Pistoia, Italy. She was a composer, pianist and poet. She studied piano and composition at the Istituto Musicale (now called the Florence Conservatory) in Florence with Francesco Cilea and Moretti. At the institute she also studied under Edgardo Del Valle de Paz and Felice Boghen. In 1910 she won first prize for composition in an Italian Lyceum competition, for a work for three voices and piano called Madrigale. Baldacci’s compositions include choral works for children, songs and pieces for the piano. Baldacci’s date of death is unknown, but is thought to be after 1910. Works Baldacci composed mostly songs and piano pieces. Selected works include:

Giovanni Alberto Ristori

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Giovanni Alberto Ristori (1692 – 7 February 1753) was an Italian opera composer and conductor. Born in Bologna (the son of another musician, Tommaso Ristori), he joined an opera troupe, led by his father, in Dresden. This troupe was responsible to August II the Strong, who was both King of Poland and Elector of Saxony. August II lent his opera troupe to the Russian Empress Anna for her coronation (1731). The younger Ristori remained in Dresden for two decades after August’s demise, and he himself died there. Calandro, his opera in three acts to a libretto by Stefano Benedetto Pallavicino, was the work which Empress Anna heard at her coronation. It is both the first opera buffa written in Germany and also the first Italian opera performed on Russian soil. Both the elder and the younger Ristori directed the staging, which involved thirteen actors and nine singers including Ludovica Seyfried, Margherita Ermini and Rosalia Fantasia. In 1916 the German musicologist Curt Rudolf Mengelberg published the first study on Ristori and his music: Curt Rudolf Mengelberg, Giovanni Alberto Ristori: ein Beitrag zur Geschichte italienischer Kunstherrschaft in Deutschland im 18. Jahrhundert (Leipzig:

Giovanni Allevi

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Giovanni Allevi (; born 9 April 1969) is an Italian pianist and composer. His song “O Generosa” is the current theme tune of the top flight of Italian football, Serie A. Biography Education Allevi attained a first-class diploma both in piano at the “F. Morlacchi” conservatoire in Perugia and in composition at the Milan Conservatory. He graduated cum laude in philosophy with a thesis entitled “Il vuoto nella Fisica contemporanea” (The Void in Contemporary Physics) and he attended the Accademia Internazionale di Alto Perfezionamento in Arezzo, under maestro Carlo Alberto Neri. In 1991, he did military service in the Italian Army Music Band. The master of the band noticed his piano talent and decided to put the piano soloist in his “inventory.” He played the Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin and the Warsaw Concerto by Richard Addinsell in his capacity as the piano soloist of the Banda during a tour in numerous Italian theatres. At the end of his military service, Allevi started presenting in concert a repertory formed exclusively of his own compositions for pianoforte while at the same time attending courses of “Bio-music and music therapy” by professor Mario Corradini, in which he

Giovanni Animuccia

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Giovanni Animuccia (c. lk=no – c. lk=no March 1571) was an Italian composer of the Renaissance who was involved in the heart of Rome’s liturgical musical life. He was one of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina’s most important predecessors and possibly his mentor. As of St Philip Neri’s Oratory and the Capella Giulia at St Peter’s, he was composing music at the very center of the Roman Catholic Church, during the turbulent reforms of the Counter-Reformation and as part of the new movements that began to flourish around the middle of the century. His music reflects these changes. Early life: Florence Animuccia was born in Florence around the beginning of the 16th century. The exact date is variously given as the end of the 15th century, c. lk=no, c. lk=no, and c. lk=no. Animuccia’s second book of madrigals was published in 1551 after his arrival in Rome. Rome After his arrival in Rome in 1550, Animuccia was employed by Cardinal Guido Ascanio Sforza. Early on, through his association with Florentine circles (in particular the exiled Altoviti family), Animuccia met his fellow Florentine St Phillip Neri. In 1558, when Phillip obtained a larger room to hold the meetings in, the practice of

Giovanni Antiga

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Giovanni Antiga (July 29, 1878 – July 11, 1960), also known as Jean Antiga, was an Italian organist and composer. He was born in Miane and he died in Nice. Career Born into a family with many children, he was entrusted to the care of his uncle, Leopoldo Antiga. He began to learn music under the tutelage of Ferdinando Battel, the organist at San Michele di Ramera. After graduating, he moved to the French town of Grasse. From 1902 to 1910, he was the director of the cathedral. He held the titles of Professor of Education and Grand Officer of the national academy of Paris. He married cellist Jenny Motti; they had two daughters, Mireille and Andreina. Notable works *Impressioni al Carmine (piccola suite) *Campane a festa *Presso una fontanella *Ninna Nanna *Raggi di luna sul mare *Campane di Roma *Contemplando un Crocifisso del Brustolon a S. Fior *Canto d’Amore *Piccola raccolta di impressioni giovanili *Riduzioni di composizioni classiche per le piccole mani *Sulla tomba di un eroe *La visione del Cadore *Le foglie d’autunno *Il canto del montanaro *La canzone nostalgica *Il tramonto del sole *Trot des cavaliers *Boite a musique *Le fontane di camurei *Je t’amerai toujours *Dance rou

Giovanni Antonio Pandolfi (musician)

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Domenico Giovanni Antonio Pandolfi Mealli (1624 – c. 1687) was an Italian composer and violinist. Life and works Pandolfi was born in Montepulciano in 1624, where he was baptised on 27 November, the second son of Giovanni Battista Pandolfi and the fourth son of his father’s second wife, Verginia Bartalini, the widow of Mario Mealli. His name at baptism was Domenico; it would appear that he adopted the names Giovanni Antonio on entering religious orders at some stage of his life. His father was the servant of a lawyer. Pandolfi’s stepbrother Lorenzo, at the age of around 8, had become a castrato singer at the court of Kraków. Another stepbrother, Giovan Battista Mealli, became a singer in Venice, where Domenico and the rest of the family joined him around 1630 following the death of old Pandolfi. The annals of the court of Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Austria in Innsbruck record that Giovanni Antonio Pandolfi Mealli was employed at the court in 1660. He is believed to have trained as a musician in Perugia. He moved to Innsbruck in 1652, and his sonatas Opp. 2 and 3 are dedicated to other court musicians there, many of whom were Italian. He left Innsbruck in 1662, and then took a p

Giovanni Artusi

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Giovanni Maria Artusi (c. 154018 August 1613) was an Italian music theorist, composer, and writer. Artusi fiercely condemned the new musical innovations that defined the early Baroque style developing around 1600 in his treatise L’Artusi, overo Delle imperfettioni della moderna musica Artusi, or On the Imperfections of Modern Music . He was also a scholar and cleric at the Congregation Santissimo Salvatore, Bologna, and remained throughout his life devoted to his teacher Gioseffo Zarlino (the principal music theorist of the late sixteenth century). When Vincenzo Galilei first attacked Zarlino in the Dialogo of 1581, it provoked Artusi to defend his teacher and the style he represented. In 1600 and 1603, Artusi attacked the “crudities” and “license” shown in the works of a composer he initially refused to name (it was Claudio Monteverdi). Monteverdi replied in the introduction to his fifth book of madrigals (1605) with his discussion of the division of musical practice into two streams: what he called prima pratica, and seconda pratica: prima pratica being the previous polyphonic ideal of the sixteenth century, with flowing counterpoint, prepared dissonance, and equality of voices;

Giovanni Bassano

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Giovanni Bassano (c. 1561 – 3 September 1617) was an Italian composer associated with the Venetian School of composers and a cornettist of the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras. He was a key figure in the development of the instrumental ensemble at the basilica of San Marco di Venezia (St. Mark). His detailed book on instrumental ornamentation has survived. It is a rich resource for research in contemporary performance practice. Bassano was most responsible for the performance of the music of Giovanni Gabrieli, who would emerge as one of the most renowned members of the Venetian School. Life Giovanni was likely born in Venice, Republic of Venice, around 1560 or 1561 in the parish of San Maurizio. He was the son of Santo Griti da Sebenico (now Šibenik, Croatia) and Orsetta Bassano. Orsetta’s father Jacomo Bassano was the only brother of the six sons of Jeronimo Bassano who did not move permanently to London from Venice around 1540 as part of a new recorder consort to King Henry VIII. Santo seems to have taken over his father-in-law’s instrument-making business and adopted the surname of Bassano for himself. He was the probable inventor of bassanelli. Giovanni Bassano arrived a

Giovanni Battista Agneletti

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Giovanni Battista Agneletti (fl. 1656–1673) was an Italian composer. Biography Little is known about the life of Giovanni Battista Agneletti, though it is certain that he was born before 1656. Based on baptismal records and other documents, he was born in Spilimbergo. and a Gloria, published in 1673 in the collection of motets Sacri Canti et Hinni (also published in Venice). The collection was dedicated to the Roveri brothers, two aristocrats from Treviso. ;Recordings In May 1999, Agneletti’s Gloria patri et filio et spiritui sancto (Gloria) was recorded as a part of Canta La Maddalena, sung by Maria Cristina Kiehr and played by the Concerto Soave ensemble. The recording was released in 2000. References

Giovanni Battista Bassani

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Giovanni Battista Bassani (c. 1650 – 1 October 1716) was an Italian composer, violinist, and organist. Biography Bassani was born in Padua. It is thought that he studied in Venice under Daniele Castrovillari and in Ferrara under Giovanni Legrenzi. Charles Burney and John Hawkins claimed he taught Arcangelo Corelli, but there is no solid evidence for this assertion. He was an organist at the Accademia della Morte in Ferrara from 1667, but had probably left by 1675. He published his first music in 1677; the title page calls him maestro of music at the Confraternità della Morte in Finale Emilia, not far from Modena. He was maestro di cappella at Duke Alessandro II della Mirandola’s court in 1680, and was elected principe at the Accademica Filarmonica in Bologna. He became maestro di cappella at the Accademia della Morte in Ferrara in 1683, and then maestro di cappella at Ferrara Cathedral in 1686. For his contributions to the musical life of Ferrara, he was often called “Bassani of Ferrara”. He wrote 76 liturgically ordered services for use at Ferrara Cathedral between 1710 and 1712. He became director of music at Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo in 1712, and also taught at the Congreg

Giovanni Battista Fasolo

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Giovanni Battista Fasolo, O.F.M.Conv (Asti, ca. 1598 Palermo after 1664), was a Franciscan friar, organist and composer. In his middle years Fasolo was primarily known for his 1645 organ annual, which, like L’organo suonarino of Adriano Banchieri, from the generation before him, was intended for use in small parish churches, and are much simpler than those used in Venice. In 1659 Fasolo became maestro di cappella to the Archbishop of Monreale. Until recently many of G.B. Fasolo’s secular works were attributed to other composers, particularly the Venetian Francesco Manelli, the composer of the first commercial operas in music history, or to a third unknown composer known as “Il Fasolo?”. However following the work of Francesco Luisi, Mariangela Donà, and Claudio Bacciagaluppi the attribution of the major works under the heading “Il Fasolo?” to G.B. Fasolo is now reasonably secure, and listed under his own entry, by Eleanor Selfridge-Field, in the current New Grove. Extant works *Op. 3 “Misticanza di Vigna alla Bergamasca; il Canto della Barchetta et altre cantate et ariette per Voce et Chitarra.” Robletti Rome, 1627. Sole surviving copy was in the possession of Dr. Oscar Chilesotti

Giovanni Battista Ferrandini

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Giovanni Battista Ferrandini (c. 1710 – 25 October 1791), an Italian composer of the Baroque and Classical eras, was born in Venice, Italy and died in Munich, at the age of about 81. He was a child prodigy and entered the service of Duke Ferdinand Maria Innocenz of Bavaria at the age of 12 as an oboist. The newly constructed Bavarian Court Theatre (the Old Residenztheater, now known as the Cuvilliés Theatre after the architect) in Munich opened on 12 October 1753 with Ferrandini’s opera Catone in Utica. A recording of the opera made 250 years later in the same theatre is available (Oehms Classics OC 901). In 1755, Ferrandini retired to Padua, where in 1771, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his father Leopold Mozart visited him in retirement. Works, editions and recordings ;Operas * Giordo, 1727 * Il Sacrifico Invalido, 1729 * Adriano in Siria, 1737 * Catone in Utica, 1753 * Music for the coronation of Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor in Frankfurt 1742 ;Cantatas * Cantata Il pianto di Maria, 1739 (long misattributed to Handel as HWV 234: Il pianto di Maria or Giunta l’ora fatal) (Full recording.) * Cantatas for Holy Week: O spettacolo pur troppo funesto. Ecco quel tronco (recordings: Elis

Giovanni Battista Gervasio

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Giovanni Battista Gervasio (c. 1725 - c. 1785) was an Italian musician and composer. Born in Naples he was one of the first generation of virtuoso-mandolinists who left Italy and played the mandolin in Europe in the 18th century. He was a composer for the mandolin and his works can be found scattered in 18th century collections such as the Gimo music collection and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. He also wrote a mandolin method Methode facile pour apprendre a quatre cordes, instrument pour les dames (Easy method for learning four-string instruments for ladies), published in Paris in 1767. He performed in London 1768 and in Frankfurt-on-the-Main on December 10, 1777, and the Concert Spirituel in Paris on December 24, 1784 . *Mandolin Sonata in D major (Sonata Per Camera di Mandolino e Basso ), mandolin and bass (Gimo 142)(Gimo 143) * Trio in D major (Trio a Due Mandolini e Basso), 2 mandolins and bass (Gimo 150) * 2016. Centaur Records. Gimo-Samling: 18th Century Sonatas & Trio Sonatas for Mandolin, played by Duo Acquavella. External *Public domain sheet music for Gervasio References * (For a free and complete download please visit https://alextimmerman.nl/articles-and-books/)

Giovanni Battista Granata

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Giovanni Battista Granata (1620/16211687) was an Italian Baroque guitar player and composer. He is generally known as the most prolific guitarist of the 17th century, publishing seven books during his lifetime. Biography Granata was born in Turin, but moved to Bologna sometime around 1646 where remained for the majority of his life. From 1651 to 1653, he was employed as liutista sopranumerario in the Concerto Palatino. Although he maintained his teaching and composing career throughout his life, his main employment was as a barber-surgeon for which he became licensed in 1659. Works Granata’s seven books, all published in Bologna, Italy: However, the similarity was not evidence that Page and Plant plagiarised Granata. References 6. Hall, Monica The chitarra atiorbata and the guittare theorbee: a reappraisal. In Early Music Vol. XXXIX no. 1 p. 25-34. External links *

Giovanni Battista Maccioni

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Giovanni Battista Maccioni (floruit 1651 – 1674) was an Italian composer, librettist, and musician. His L’arpa festante (The Festive Harp), first performed in 1653, inaugurated what was to become the Bavarian State Opera and is often described as the first opera to be wholly written and produced in Germany. Life Nothing is known about Maccioni’s early life nor the date and place of his birth. The first record of him was in 1651 when he was hired as the court chaplain, poet and musician to Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria. When Ferdinand married Princess Henriette Adelaide of Savoy in 1652, Maccioni, who was considered an outstanding harpist, became her harp teacher. It was she who encouraged him to write and compose a work to celebrate the visit of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor to Munich in August 1653. The result was L’arpa festante, often referred to as the first opera to be wholly written and produced in Germany, although it was closer in its form and length to a dramatic cantata. Nevertheless, it differed from previous court entertainments which had been plays with musical interludes. L’arpa festante was an integrated musical drama with recitatives, solo arias, duets and

Giovanni Battista Martini

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Giovanni Battista or Giambattista Martini, (24 April 1706 – 3 August 1784), also known as Padre Martini, was an Italian Conventual Franciscan friar, who was a leading musician, composer, and music historian of the period and a mentor to Mozart. Biography Giovanni Battista Martini was born in Bologna, in that era part of the Papal States. His father, Antonio Maria Martini, a violinist, taught him the elements of music and the violin, and he later learned singing and harpsichord playing from Padre Pradieri, and counterpoint from Antonio Riccieri and Giacomo Antonio Perti. Having received his education in classics from the priests of the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri, he afterwards entered the novitiate of the Conventual Franciscans at their friary in Lago, at the close of which he professed religious vows and received the religious habit of the Order on 11 September 1722. In 1725, though only nineteen years old, he received the appointment of chapel-master at the Basilica of San Francesco in Bologna, where his compositions attracted attention. He established a composition school at the invitation of amateur and professional friends, where a number of well-known musicians received thei

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi

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Giovanni Battista Draghi (; 4 January 1710 – 16 or 17 March 1736), usually referred to as Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (), was an Italian Baroque composer, violinist, and organist, leading exponent of the Baroque; he is considered one of the greatest Italian musicians of the first half of the 18th century and one of the most important representatives of the Neapolitan school. Despite his short life and few years of activity (he died of tuberculosis at the age of 26), he managed to create works of high artistic value and historical importance, such as La serva padrona (The Maid Turned Mistress), which played an important role in the development and diffusion of the opera buffa in Europe, L’Olimpiade, considered “one of the finest opere serie of the early eighteenth century”, and Stabat Mater, which is among the most important works of sacred music of all time. In his lifetime, he wrote a total of 10 works for the stage, including 3 two-part intermezzos. Biography Born in Jesi in what is now the Province of Ancona (but was then part of the Papal States), he was commonly given the nickname “Pergolesi”, a demonym indicating in Italian the residents of nearby Pergola, which was the birth

Giovanni Battista Pescetti

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Giovanni Battista Pescetti (c. 170420 March 1766) was an organist, harpsichordist, and composer known primarily for his operas and keyboard sonatas. Musicologist and University of California, Santa Barbara professor John E. Gillespie wrote that Pescetti “stylistically stands as a bridge between Alberti and Domenico Scarlatti”. Life Born in Venice, Pescetti was the son of organ builder Giacinto Pescetti. His mother, Giulia Pescetti (née Pollarolo), was the daughter of opera composer and organist Carlo Francesco Pollarolo and the sister of composer and organist Antonio Pollarolo. He developed a friendship with Baldassare Galuppi, a fellow pupil of Lotti’s, with whom he collaborated in creating and revising operas. In 1739 he published a set of ten keyboard sonatas entitled Sonate per gravicembalo in London. This work included arrangements of the overture and arias in his opera La conquista del velo d’oro. References Further reading *Degrada, Francesco. 1966. “Le sonate per cembalo e per organo di Giovanni Battista Pescetti”. Chigiana (new series) 3:89–108. * *Taylor, Carole M. 1987. “From Losses to Lawsuit: Patronage of the Italian Opera in London by Lord Middlesex, 1739–45”. Music &

Giovanni Battista Pinello di Ghirardi

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Giovanni Battista Pinello di Ghirardi (c. 1544 – 15 June 1587 in Prague) was an Italian music composer and Kapellmeister of the Italian Renaissance. Life and career Giovanni Battista Pinello was born in Genoa in c. 1544. He came from a noble Genoese family. The earliest known record of Pinello dates to 1569 when he was serving as a musician in Landshut in the chapel of William V, Duke of Bavaria. Financial woes in the Bavarian court, caused that chapel to close in 1570 and at this point Pinello returned to Italy. He settled in maestro di cappella at the Vicenza Cathedral. He remained in that post for several years during which time his first compositions were published in Venice. These included three “Neapolitan song” anthologies: Il secondo libro delle canzone napolitane (1571), Il terzo libro delle canzone napolitane (1572), and El quarto libro delle canzone napolitane (1575). Compositions *A four-part mass (1583) *Ein deutsches Magnificat in den acht Kirchentönen (1584) – a German Magnificat in the eight church tones *Cantiones Sacrae and madrigals for eight, ten and fifteen voices (Dresden, 1584) *Neue deutsche Lieder zu fünf Stimmen (Dresden, 1585) – New German songs to five v

Giovanni Battista Riccio

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Giovanni Battista Riccio (Giambattista Riccio) (late 16th centuryafter 1621) was a musician and composer of the early Baroque era, resident in Venice, most notable for his development of instrumental forms, particularly utilizing the recorder. Life and music No details are available regarding the early part of his life, but he must have been born in the late sixteenth century. Records show that he was appointed as organist at the Scuola di San Giovanni Evangelista, Venice, in 1609, when he was the preferred choice over Gabriel Sponga (a nephew of Francesco Usper). He was probably also a violinist. Riccio is known to have published three books of vocal and instrumental music in Venice. These books include his instrumental works for recorderunusual for Venetian music at the time, although Giovanni Picchi also wrote for the instrument. The initial publication date of Riccio’s Primo Libro is unknown, but the reprint dating from 1612 survives. The majority of the first book is allotted to vocal works, but in the revised edition two new instrumental canzonas are appended. One is his first known piece for recordera canzone for two flautini. His Secondo Libro, also published in Venice, app

Giovanni Battista Sammartini

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Giovanni Battista Sammartini (c. 1700 – 15 January 1775) was an Italian composer, violinist, organist, choirmaster and teacher. He counted Gluck among his students, and was highly regarded by younger composers including Johann Christian Bach. It has also been noted that many stylizations in Joseph Haydn’s compositions are similar to those of Sammartini, although Haydn denied any such influence. Sammartini is especially associated with the formation of the concert symphony through both the shift from a brief opera-overture style and the introduction of a new seriousness and use of thematic development that prefigure Haydn and Mozart. Some of his works are described as galant, a style associated with Enlightenment ideals, while “the prevailing impression left by Sammartini’s work… is that he contributed greatly to the development of a Classical style that achieved its moment of greatest clarity precisely when his long, active life was approaching its end”. Sammartini quickly became famous as a church composer and obtained fame abroad. Over the years he joined many churches for work (eight or more by his death ) and wrote music to be performed at state occasions and in the houses of

Giovanni Battista Somis

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Giovanni Battista Somis (December 25, 1686 – August 14, 1763) was an Italian violinist and composer of the Baroque music era. He studied under Arcangelo Corelli between 1703 and 1706 or 1707. He published eight opus numbers in all: *Opus 1 - 12 sonatas for violin and figured bass (1717 Amsterdam, published by J. Roger) *Opus 2 - 12 sonatas for violin and figured bass (1723 Turin) *Opus 3 - 12 sonatas for violin and figured bass (1725 Turin) *Opus 4 - 12 sonatas for violin and figured bass (1726 Paris) *Opus 5 - 6 trio sonatas for two violins and figured bass (1733 Paris, published by Boisvin) Felice Giardini, Louis-Gabriel Guillemain, and Chabran, as well as Gaetano Pugnani, and he forms a connecting link between the classical schools of Italy and France. He died in Turin. References External links *

Giovanni Battista Vitali

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Giovanni Battista Vitali (18 February 1632 – 12 October 1692) was an Italian composer and violone player. Life and career Vitali was born in Bologna and spent all of his life in the Emilian region, moving to Modena in 1674. His teacher in his early years was probably Maurizio Cazzati (1616–1678), maestro di cappella at the main church in Bologna, San Petronio Basilica from 1657 to 1671. The first documented evidence of Vitali’s musical activities appears in the records of the San Petronio orchestra for 1658, when he is listed under the title ‘Violoni’, referring to the cello/bass instrument that he played. Vitali remained in the orchestra until 1673, when he took up an appointment as maestro di cappella at the chapel of the Confraternità del Rosario, Bologna. His first publication, Opus 1 (1666), tells us that he was a member of the Accademia dei Filaschisi. This musical institution, which had been established in 1633, disbanded in 1666 when most of its members joined the Accademia Filarmonica. Vitali is also listed as a member of the Accademia Filarmonica in 1666, the year of its founding. The academy archives record various details of its members, including where they came from (

Giovanni Battista Volpe

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Giovanni Battista Volpe (–1691) was a Venetian composer for operas during the Baroque period. He was also known as Rovetta and Rovettino. His uncle was Giovanni Rovetta, a composer and former maestro di capella. which premiered in the same theatre in 1663. He composed at least one more opera for the theatre. Volpe was the preferred choice of composers in absentia when changes had to be made to their work. Compositions *La costanza di Rosmonda, libretto by Aurelio Aureli (premiered 1659) *Gl’amori d’Apollo e di Leucotoe, libretto by Aurelio Aureli (premiered 1663) References

Giovanni Benedetto Platti

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Giovanni Benedetto Platti was born possibly 9 July 1697 (according to other sources 1690, 1692, 1700) in Padua, then belonging to Venice. He was an Italian Baroque composer and oboist. He died 11 January 1763 in Würzburg. Life Platti studied music in Italy (mostly singing, the oboe and the violin). While in Italy, where he stayed until 1722, he probably saw the recently invented fortepiano; a few of his keyboard solo sonatas and concertos might have been composed for it instead of the harpsichord, but this point is debatable. In his chamber works (duets and trios), the harpsichord is clearly the instrument required. No “piano” or “forte” indications are on Platti’s keyboard parts in his concertos for harpsichord and strings, though. Also, the extension of at least one of these concertos asks for a D that is beyond Cristofori’s instrument’s compass (4 octaves CC to c4). In 1722, he was called to Würzburg to work for the prince-bishop of Bamberg and Würzburg, Johann Philipp Franz von Schönborn. There he married Theresia Langprückner, a soprano singer with whom he had at least two children. Platti spent the rest of his life in the town, working as a singer, instrument virtuoso, compos

Giovanni Bernardino Nanino

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Giovanni Bernardino Nanino (ca. 1560 – 1623) was an Italian composer, teacher and singing master of the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras, and a leading member of the Roman School of composers. He was the younger brother of the somewhat more influential composer Giovanni Maria Nanino. Life Born in Vallerano, he was first a boy soprano in the local cathedral, just like his brother. His first post may have been as maestro di cappella at Santa Maria dei Monti in 1588, and he is known to have acquired the post of maestro di cappella at San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome in 1591, after his brother left to join the papal choir. The two brothers, however, were living together at this time in a house owned by the church, and spent a good deal of their time teaching choirboys. Following the appointment at San Luigi dei Francesi, he was associated with Cardinal Montalto, a wealthy and influential patron of art and music, and may have served as teacher, composer, and archivist for the Cardinal at his church, San Lorenzo in Damaso. Works Nanino’s music of the 1580s and 1590s is conservative in idiom, avoiding the experimental tendencies of his brother and Marenzio, preferring instead to inco

Giovanni Bolzoni (composer)

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Giovanni Bolzoni (15 May 1841 – 21 February 1919) was an Italian composer and violinist, who is known for his Minuet for String Orchestra. Life and career Born in Parma, Bolzoni studied at the Parma Conservatory. After graduating in 1859, he was violinist and part-time conductor with Teatro Comunale di Reggio Emilia and Comunale di Cremona, eventually taking a position in Savona where he also taught violin. After six years he became its concertmaster and conductor. This was followed in 1874 by three years in Perugia as orchestral conductor and theatre director at the Istituto Morlacchi. In 1887, he became director of the Istituto Musicale, concertmaster at the Teatro Regio di Parma and of the Concerti Popolari. Bolzoni was the long-time director of the Turin Conservatory. Among his notable pupils were composers Carlo Adolfo Cantù and Edgard Varèse. In 1884, he conducted the premiere of the revised version of Puccini’s opera Le Villi. Bolzoni died in Turin, aged 77. Compositions Besides the popular Minuet, Bolzoni composed the operas Il matrimonio civile (premiered in Parma, 1870), La stella delle Alpi (Savona, 1876), and Jella (Piacenza, 1881). He also wrote Tema con variazioni for

Giovanni Bononcini

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Giovanni Bononcini (or Buononcini) In 1685, at the age of 15, he published three collections of instrumental works (in two of which he gave his age as 13). Final years After leaving London in 1733, Bononcini travelled to France in the company of an adventurer, Count Ughi, who swindled him out of most of his property. In Paris, Bononcini gave concerts of his religious music at the Concert Spirituel and then moved on to Lisbon to become the cello teacher to the Portuguese king. In 1736 he returned to Vienna, where his opera Alessandro in Sidone and his oratorio Ezechia were performed in 1737. In dire financial straits by 1742, he petitioned Maria Theresa of Austria for help. In October of that year, she granted him a pension of 50 florins a month in recognition of his past service to the court. Bononcini died on 9 July 1747, allegedly in Vienna, impoverished and largely forgotten. After his death, his last major composition, a Te Deum which he had composed in 1741 for Francis I, was performed in celebration of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. Compositions His earliest works for the cello are two Sinfonie included in a manuscript in the abbey of Montecassino. His other works include a n

Giovanni Bottesini

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Giovanni Bottesini (22 December 1821 – 7 July 1889) was an Italian Romantic composer, conductor, and a double bass virtuoso. Biography Born in Crema, Lombardy, he was taught the rudiments of music by his father, an accomplished clarinetist and composer, at a young age and had played timpani in Crema with the Teatro Sociale before the age of eleven. He studied violin with Carlo Cogliati, and probably would have continued on this instrument except for a unique turn of events. His father sought a place for him in the Milan Conservatory in 1835, but due to the Bottesini family’s lack of money, Bottesini needed a scholarship. Only two positions were available: double bass and bassoon. He prepared a successful audition for the double bass scholarship in a matter of weeks. Only four years later, a surprisingly short time by the standards of the day, he left with a prize of 300 francs for solo playing. This money financed the acquisition of an instrument of Carlo Giuseppe Testore, and a globe-trotting career as “the Paganini of the Double Bass” was launched. His fantasies on Lucia di Lammermoor, I puritani, Beatrice di Tenda and especially La sonnambula are virtuosic tours de force that ar

Giovanni Buonaventura Viviani

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Giovanni Buonaventura Viviani (15 July 1638 Florence –about 1693 Pistoia) was an Italian composer and violinist. He worked in the court at Innsbruck as a violinist at least between 1656 and 1660. Between 1672 and 1676 he was director of the court music at Innsbruck, which, after the extinction of the Tyrolean Habsburgs, had come under the control of the emperor. Although in publications of 1678 Viviani still described himself as holding this position, it seems more likely that he was in fact in Venice working on his arrangement of Francesco Cavalli’s Scipione affricano and his own opera Astiage, which were both performed in Venice that year. Also that year, Viviani directed an oratorio at the Oratorio di San Marcello in Rome with Arcangelo Corelli and Bernardo Pasquini. He was probably elevated to the nobility in the same year, since he subsequently designated himself ‘Nobile del Sacro Romano Imperio’. Between 1678 and 1679 and 1681 and 1682 he was in Naples as director of a troupe of opera singers, and while he was there he performed some of his own operas and oratorios. In 1686 he was maestro di cappella to the Prince of Bisignano. From January 1687 to December 1692 he was maestr

Giovanni Cesare Netti

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Giovanni Cesare Netti (4 September 1649, in Putignano – Naples, before 31 July 1686) was an Italian composer and maestro di cappella. Works They have been cataloged by Giovanni Tribuzio (siglum TN): Cantatas * TN I.1a: Addio cara libertà *TN I.1b: Addio cara libertà * TN I.2: L’innamorato Aminta * TN I.3: Nel bel regno d’amore * TN I.4: Nella stagione appunto * TN I.5a: Occhi belli, s’io v’adoro *TN I.5b: Occhi belli s’io v’adoro * TN I.6: Più non vanti la speranza * TN I.7: Semiviva e dolente (spurious) * TN II.1: Seguane pur che può, scoprirmi io voglio Serenatas * TN III.1: Nella notte più fosca * TN III.2: Risvegliatevi, o luci mie belle Antiprologues * TN IV.1: Acquaviva laureata (Acquaviva delle Fonti, 1682) * TN IV.2: Gara degli elementi in dotare li due misti (Acquaviva delle Fonti, 1682) * TN IV.3: Le perdite di Nereo e Dori al paragone delle glorie (Acquaviva delle Fonti, 1682) Operas * TN V.1a: Adamiro (Naples, 1681) *TN V.1b: Adamiro (Palermo, 1682) * TN V.2: La Filli La moglie del fratello (Naples, 1682) Bibliography *Dinko Fabris, Netti, Giovanni Cesare, in Dizionario biografico degli italiani, vol. 78, Roma, Istituto dell’Enciclopedia Italiana, 2013. *Giovanni Cesare

Giovanni Croce

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Giovanni Croce (; also Ioanne a Cruce Clodiensis, Zuanne Chiozotto; 1557 – 15 May 1609) was an Italian composer of the late Renaissance, of the Venetian School. He was particularly prominent as a madrigalist, one of the few among the Venetians other than Monteverdi and Andrea Gabrieli. Life He was born in Chioggia, a fishing town on the Adriatic coast south of Venice, the same town as Gioseffo Zarlino, and he came to Venice early, becoming a member of the boys’ choir at St. Mark’s under Zarlino’s direction by the time he was eight years old. Zarlino evidently found him in a choir in Chioggia Cathedral, and recruited him for St. Mark’s. Croce may have been a parish priest at the church of Santa Maria Formosa, and he took holy orders in 1585; during this period he also served as a singer at St. Mark’s. He evidently maintained some connection with Santa Maria Formosa, probably as a director of music, alongside his duties at St. Mark’s. After the death of Zarlino, he became assistant maestro di cappella; this was during the tenure of Baldassare Donato. When Donato died in 1603, Croce took over the principal job as maestro di cappella but the singing standards of the famous St. Mark’s C

Giovanni D'Anzi

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Giovanni D’Anzi (1 January 1906 – 15 April 1974) was an Italian songwriter. Biography D’Anzi was born in Milan. In 1935 he wrote music and lyrics of “Oh mia bella Madonnina” (“My beautiful little Madonna”), a song dedicated to his hometown which soon became very popular and a sort of unofficial city anthem. Between the 1930s and 1950s Giovanni D’Anzi and Alfredo Bracchi formed a very prolific pair of songwriters. They worked for radio, cinema and theater productions. Several of their songs were great hits. Among them “Ma le gambe”, “Bambina innamorata”, “Ma l’amore no”, “Voglio vivere così”, “Ti parlerò d’amor”. His song “Malinconia d’amore” has been sung by both Luciano Pavarotti and José Carreras. Most of their songs were in Milanese dialect, and described ironically characters of the past in Milan, for example “La gagarella del Biffi Scala” (“The Spoiled Daughter of Mr Biffi Scala”) and “El Tumiami de Loret” (“The Braggart from Piazzale Loreto”), “El Biscella” (“The Silly-Bully Boy”). During the 1960s Giovanni D’Anzi retired from the musical scene. He moved to Liguria and took up painting. He died at Santa Margherita Ligure. Milan’s local authorities included him in the list of

Giovanni da Cascia

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Giovanni da Cascia, also Jovannes de Cascia, Johannes de Florentia, Maestro Giovanni da Firenze, was an Italian composer of the medieval era, active in the middle of the fourteenth century. Life and career Virtually nothing is known about Giovanni’s life. From his surname it is presumed that he was born in the village of Cascia, near Florence. It was once thought that he held a post at Florence Cathedral, but this is no longer accepted. A Florentine chronicle states that Giovanni and Jacopo da Bologna competed at Mastino II of Scala’s court; Mastino died in 1351. The metaphors used in his works are consistent with prevailing idioms of the mid-14th century. His portrait in the Squarcialupi Codex shows him without priestly garments. Music Nineteen of Giovanni’s compositions survive, scattered in nine manuscripts. Sixteen of these are madrigals, and three of them are cacce. He is thought to have written some of his own texts. Musically, Giovanni’s madrigals are of importance in the development of the style of the 14th-century madrigal. He tends to use extended melismas on the first and penultimate syllables of a poetic line, and sometimes introduces hockets at these points. The middle

Giovanni de Macque

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Giovanni de Macque (Giovanni de Maque, Jean de Macque) (1548/1550 – September 1614) was a Netherlandish composer of the late Renaissance and early Baroque, who spent almost his entire life in Italy. He was one of the most famous Neapolitan composers of the late 16th century; some of his experimentation with chromaticism was likely influenced by Carlo Gesualdo, who was an associate of his. Life Macque was born in Valenciennes, but moved to Vienna at an early age, where he sang as a choirboy, and where he studied with Philippe de Monte, the renowned composer of madrigals. When his voice broke in late 1563 — the only evidence for his birthdate — he was moved out of the choir and into a Jesuit college, and sometime before 1574 he moved to Rome, where he worked as a composer and as an organist; he published his first book of madrigals in 1576 (in Venice, which had a much more active publishing industry). While in Rome he met Marenzio, and his early book of serious madrigals shows Marenzio’s influence. Macque moved to Naples around 1585, where he became famous as the leader of the Neapolitan school. His first employment there was with the Gesualdo household, a place he remained until May

Giovanni de' Bardi

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Giovanni de’ Bardi (5 February 1534 – September 1612), Count of Vernio, was an Italian literary critic, writer, composer and soldier. Biography Giovanni de’ Bardi was born in Florence. While he received a deep classical education, becoming proficient in Latin and Greek as well as learning the craft of music composition, his early years were largely spent as a soldier. Under Grand Duke Cosimo I of Tuscany he fought against Siena, and later he fought at the Siege of Malta (1565) against the Turks. After Malta, and now a captain, he assisted Maximilian II in defeating the Turks in Hungary. But when he was not away on military campaigns, he was busy in Florence and elsewhere as a patron of music and the arts. Bardi is mainly famous for being host, patron, and inspiration to the group of composers, music theorists and scholars who made up the Florentine Camerata, the group which attempted to restore the aesthetic effect of ancient Greek music to contemporary practice. The group included Vincenzo Galilei (father of the astronomer Galileo), Giulio Caccini, and Pietro Strozzi, and derived its inspiration from a correspondence with Girolamo Mei, the foremost scholar of ancient Greek drama a

Giovanni Domenico da Nola

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Giovanni Domenico da Nola (also Nolla) (c. 1510–1520 – May 1592) was an Italian composer and poet of the Renaissance. He was born in the town of Nola, Italy. He was a founding member of the Accademia dei Sereni in 1546–1547, where he knew Luigi Dentice and Marchese della Terza, who was a patron of Orlando di Lasso. Nola was appointed maestro di cappella at the SS Annunziata in Naples on 1 February 1563, a position he held up to his death 29 years later. He also taught singing to the women of the ospedali at the Annunziata and to seminary deacons. Nola’s first publication consisted of two books of Canzoni villanesche in 1541, which contained 31 villanescas and 11 mascheratas. They were held in high esteem by Nola’s contemporaries; arrangements of these works were made by Lasso, Hubert Waelrant, Adrian Willaert, Baldassare Donato, Perissone Cambio, and Antonio Scandello. Lyrically, the works are often humorous and draw on local dialects and sayings; musically, the works make skillful use of imitation and intentional parallel fifths. Nola published a book of madrigals in 1545; of the 29 works in the book, 22 are settings of Petrarch, including one madrigal, six canzoni and fifteen sonnet

Giovanni Dragoni

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Giovanni Andrea Dragoni (or Draconi, c. 1540 – December 1598) was an Italian composer of the Roman School of the late Renaissance, a student of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, and a prominent composer and maestro di cappella in Rome in the late 16th century. He left numerous sacred and secular works, almost all vocal, and was especially noted for his often-reprinted books of madrigals. Life Dragoni was born at Meldola, not far from Forlì, but details of his early life are lacking. He studied with Palestrina, as he indicated in the dedication to his first book of madrigals (1575). The next year he acquired the prestigious position of maestro di cappella at one of Rome’s most prominent churches and musical establishments, St. John Lateran, and he retained this position for the rest of his life. In 1594, towards the end of his life, Cardinal del Monte appointed Dragoni to assess the progress on the revisions to liturgical chant, part of the extensive reforms following from the Council of Trent. Dragoni died in Rome. Music Dragoni’s output was extensive, but much of his sacred music, kept in the St. John Lateran archive, has been lost, including a collection of settings of the Lament

Giovanni Felice Sances

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Giovanni Felice Sances (also Sancies, Sanci, Sanes, Sanchez, c. 160024 November 1679) was an Italian singer and a Baroque composer. He was renowned in Europe during his time. Sances studied at the Collegio Germanico in Rome from 1609 to 1614. He appeared in the opera Amor pudico in Rome in 1614. His career then took him to Bologna and Venice. His first opera Ermiona was staged in Padua in 1636, in which he also sang. In 1636 he moved to Vienna, where he was initially employed at the imperial court chapel as a tenor. In 1649, during the reign of Ferdinand III he was appointed vice-Kapellmeister under Antonio Bertali. He collaborated with Bertali to stage regular performances of Italian opera. He also composed sepolcri, sacred works and chamber music. In 1669 he succeeded to the post of Imperial Kapellmeister upon Bertali’s death. From 1673, due to poor health, many of his duties were undertaken by his deputy Johann Heinrich Schmelzer. He died in Vienna in 1679. Works Sacred works Published motet collections *Motetti a una, due, tre, e quattro voci (1638) *Motetti a 2, 3, 4, a cinque voci con Litania della BVM (1642) dedicated to Guglielmo Slavata chancellor *Salmi a 8 voci (1643) de

Giovanni Ferretti

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Giovanni Ferretti (c. 1540 – after 1609) was an Italian composer of the Renaissance, best known for his secular music. He was important in the development of the lighter kind of madrigal current in the 1570s related to the villanella, and was influential as far away as England. Life His place of origin is uncertain, and both Venice and Ancona have been claimed as cities of his birth. The earliest documents of his career show him already to be employed as the maestro di cappella, the choirmaster, at the cathedral of Ancona in 1575. The next two decades have gaps, but some dates of employment are known. Between 1580 and 1582 he was at Loreto; from 1586 to 1588 at Gemona; in 1589 at Cividale del Friuli; and in 1596 he is recorded as being at Loreto again, this time as maestro di cappella at Santa Casa, a position he held until 1603. A reference to him in 1609 indicates he was still alive then, possibly living in Rome, and various other bits of evidence – such as his music appearing in Roman collections, and his acquaintanceship with Roman musicians – suggests that he may have spent part of his career there. When he died is not known, but it was likely after 1609. Works and influence F

Giovanni Fouchetti

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Giovanni Fouchetti (, fl.1757-1789) published one of the earliest method books for the mandolin, c. 1771. According to Philip J. Bone, Fouchetti was also known as Fouquet, and he lived in Paris during the 18th Century. He was a professor there in 1788. He is also credited with creating a Parisian school of mandolinists, along with Eduardo Mezzacapo, Gabriele Leone, and Gervasio. His book Méthode pour apprendre facilement á jouer de la mandoline á 4 et á 6 cordes; dans la quelle on explique les differents coups de plume nécessaires pour cet instrument. On y a joint six sérenades et six petites sonates (Method for learning to play easily the mandolin of four or six strings. In which different pen strokes are needed to explain this instrument, with six serenades and six small sonatas) was republished in 1983 with methods by Gabriele Leone and Pietro Denis, both of whose methods were originally published in 1768. The 1983 book was called Méthodes de mandolin de Leone, Fouchetti, Denis. Controversy One of Giovanni Fouchetti’s works Allegro from the fourth sonata was published by Hoffmeister under the name Pietro Fouchetti; no one who has addressed the issue has come up with a reason. Re

Giovanni Francesco Anerio

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Giovanni Francesco Anerio (7 July 1569 - 11 June 1630) was an Italian composer of the Roman School, of the very late Renaissance and early Baroque eras. He was the younger brother of Felice Anerio. Giovanni’s principal importance in music history was his contribution to the early development of the oratorio; he represented the progressive trend within the otherwise conservative Roman School, though he also shared some of the stylistic tendencies of his brother, who was much indebted to Palestrina. Life He was born in Rome on 7 July 1569. He was a choirboy at Cappella Giulia in St. Peter’s under Palestrina from 1575 to 1579. He clearly decided to become a priest from an early age, and became associated with the Oratory of Filippo Neri around 1583. In 1595 he was employed as an organist at S Marcello, and likely became maestro di cappella at the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano, after Francesco Soriano, between 1600 or 1601 and 1603. In 1609 he held a similar post at Verona Cathedral, his first appointment outside of Rome; he stayed there until 1610, when he returned to Rome; remaining there (aside from a few travels) until 1624, holding a variety of roles (he became a priest in

Giovanni Fusco

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Giovanni Fusco (10 October 1906, Sant’Agata dei Goti, Benevento – 31 May 1968, Rome) was an Italian composer, pianist and conductor, who has written numerous film scores since 1936, including those of Alain Resnais’s Hiroshima mon amour (1959) and La guerre est finie (1966), as well as those of most of the 1948-1964 films directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, from N.U. (Nettezza Urbana) to Il deserto rosso, except for La notte (soundtrack by Giorgio Gaslini) and some of his early short films. Two of his soundtracks, those of Antonioni’s Cronaca di un amore and L’avventura, won Silver Ribbon for the best film score from Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists in 1951 and 1961, respectively. His brother Tarcisio Fusco was also a composer. His daughter was the operatic soprano Cecilia Fusco. Selected filmography * The Countess of Parma (1936) * Joe the Red (1936) * Doctor Antonio (1937) * The Sin of Rogelia Sanchez (1940) * Two on a Vacation (1940) * Two Hearts (1943) * The Models of Margutta (1946) * Hand of Death (1949) * Mistress of the Mountains (1950) *Cronaca di un amore (1950) * The Mistress of Treves (1952) * They Were Three Hundred (1952) * Orphan of the Ghetto (1954) *

Giovanni Gabrieli

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Giovanni Gabrieli (c. 1554/1557 – 12 August 1612) was an Italian composer and organist. He was one of the most influential musicians of his time, and represents the culmination of the style of the Venetian School, at the time of the shift from Renaissance to Baroque idioms. Early life and education Gabrieli was born in Venice. He was one of five children, and his father came from the region of Carnia and went to Venice shortly before Giovanni’s birth. While not much is known about Giovanni’s early life, he probably studied with his uncle, the composer Andrea Gabrieli, who was employed at St Mark’s Basilica from the 1560s until his death in 1585. Giovanni may indeed have been brought up by his uncle, as is implied by the dedication to his 1587 book of concerti, in which he described himself as “little less than a son” to his uncle. Giovanni also went to Munich to study with the renowned Orlando de Lassus at the court of Duke Albert V; most likely he stayed there until about 1579. Lassus was to be one of the principal influences on the development of his musical style. although he probably composed even more for San Marco. San Marco had a long tradition of musical excellence and Gabr

Giovanni Galzerani

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Giovanni Galzerani (c. 1789 - after 1853) was an Italian choreographer, ballet dancer, and composer who was active in major theatres throughout Italy from 1808 to 1853. He was born in Porto Azzurro on the Isle of Elba and began his education in Gaeta where his father was the military commandant at the time. At his father’s wish he enrolled in the Collegio della Nunziatella in Naples to train for a military career, remaining there until the age of 17. While at the college, he also studied ballroom dancing with Ferdinando Gioia, the brother of the celebrated dancer and choreographer Gaetano Gioia, and became one of his best pupils. After his father’s death in 1806, Galzerani abandoned preparations for a military career and dedicated himself entirely to the ballet, first as a dancer and then as a choreographer. He also composed the music for some of his ballets, such as Il pericolo which premiered in 1818 at the Teatro Regio in Turin. *Il pericolo, Giovanni Galzerani (composer), premiered Teatro Regio, Turin, 26 December 1818 *Niobe ossia La vendetta di Latona, Giovanni Pacini (composer), premiered Teatro Regio, Turin, 26 December 1818 *Ero e Leandro, Luigi Maria Viviani (composer), p

Giovanni Giacomo Gastoldi

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Giovanni Giacomo Gastoldi (c. 1554 – 4 January 1609) was an Italian composer of the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. He is known for his 1591 publication of balletti for five voices. Career Gastoldi was born at Caravaggio, Lombardy. In 1592 he succeeded Giaches de Wert as choirmaster at Santa Barbara’s, Mantua, and served until 1605 under the Dukes Guglielmo and Vincenzo Gonzaga. According to Filippo Lomazzo, Gastoldi became choirmaster at the Duomo, Milan, afterwards, but other considerations seem to make this point doubtful. Works Gastoldi composed several books of madrigals, a variety of sacred vocal music, and a few instrumental works. Particularly noteworthy among his secular vocal works is his Quarto libro de’ madrigali a cinque voci (1602), which consists almost entirely of settings of texts from Battista Guarini’s hugely popular “pastoral tragicomedy” Il pastor fido (The Faithful Shepherd). According to Gastoldi himself, at least one of the pieces from this collection was included in a Mantuan court performance of the play in November 1598, which was staged as part of the festivities accompanying a visit of the queen of Spain. Balletti His two sets of balletti, a

Giovanni Giorgi (composer)

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Giovanni Giorgi (late 17th or early 18th century – June 1762 ) (Latin: Joannis de Georgiis) was a priest and an Italian composer. His style of polychoral church compositions are influenced by earlier Roman School composers such as Orazio Benevoli, but also incorporate later Roman Baroque features and (after about 1758) some elements of early Classical style. Life Giorgi is reputed to have originated from Venice, but few details of his life are known. In 1719 he was appointed maestro di cappella at the papal Basilica of St. John Lateran, Rome, and was the successor of Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni. Many of Giorgi’s early compositions were written during his time in Rome. By January 1725 he was in Lisbon where he took up the post of court mestre de capela. He died in Lisbon in 1762. Works Many Portuguese records were lost in the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, but in Giorgi’s case around 600 compositions have been preserved both in the Lateran archives in Rome and at Lisbon Cathedral. His extant works include: * 162 motets, some for 2 to 4 voices; also some for 8 or 16 voices * 33 mass settings for 2, 4, 8 and 16 voices; some with instrumental parts * 145 gradual settings for 2, 4 and 8 voices; so

Giovanni Gioviale

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Giovanni Gioviale (November 1885 – June 11, 1949) was an Italian composer and musician. He is considered one of the greatest mandolin virtuosos of all time. He also played guitar and banjo, and at the concert level with violin. He is special among the Italian mandolin masters, as one of the only ones to be recorded. He has also been credited for making famous the duo style of mandolin playing, in which one instrument sounds like several. Born Catania, Gioviale took up the mandolin when he was ten-years old. He was impressed by the music he heard at a barbershop. Craft halls were one of the types of place one could hear music in Catania then. He learned the mandolin first, then added banjo, guitar and violin, which he learned in school. He was an internationally travelling performer, performing in Spain, Africa, England, Austria and the United States. While in the United States, from 1926 to 1929, he recorded more than 50 recordings. After three years in the U.S., he missed his home and moved back to Italy. He was planning to return when he died in 1949. He continued to perform in Italy, playing in Turin, Milan, Rome, Genoa, and Palmero. In addition to his own works, he performed wo

Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger

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Johannes Hieronymus von Kapsberger, commonly known by his Italian name: Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger, (also: Johann Hieronymus Kapsberger, Giovanni Geronimo Kapsperger; possibly Venice, c. 1580 – Rome, 17 January 1651) was an Austrian-Italian virtuoso performer and composer of the early Baroque period. A prolific and highly original composer, Kapsberger is chiefly remembered today for his lute and theorbo (chitarrone) music, which was seminal in the development of these as solo instruments. He was nicknamed “the noble German” and “the German of the theorbo”, referencing his ethnicity and fame as a virtuoso of the theorbo and of the other instruments belonging to the lute family. Life Nothing is known about Kapsberger’s date and place of birth. His father Colonel Wilhelm (Guglielmo) von Kapsperger was a military official of the Imperial House of Austria, and may have settled in Venice, the city which may have been Kapsberger’s birthplace. After 1605 Kapsberger moved to Rome, where he quickly attained a reputation as a brilliant virtuoso. He cultivated connections with various powerful individuals and organizations and organized “academies” in his house, which were counted among the

Giovanni Henrico Albicastro

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Johann Heinrich von Weissenburg (c. 1660 – 26 January 1730), known as Giovanni Henrico Albicastro, was an amateur musician and composer of the Baroque era. Biography Albicastro came from Klosterneuburg near Vienna, or the village of Bieswangen, near Pappenheim in central Bavaria, not far from the village of Weissenburg (“White Castle”, thus “Albicastro” in Latin or Italian). Johann Gottfried Walther included Albicastro in his Musicalisches Lexicon (1732) under the mistaken supposition that Albicastro came from Switzerland; consequently he has often been included in lists of Swiss musicians. In 1686, Albicastro moved to Leiden, in the Netherlands, where he registered at the University of Leiden as a Musicus Academiae, but his name does not appear in the university’s archives. In 1696, a collection of twelve of his trio sonatas appeared, entitled Il giardino armonico sacro-profano (“The sacred-profane harmonic garden”), Op. 3. Edited by François Barbry, it was published in Bruges by François van Heurck; no copies of the last six, or of Albicastro’s opus 1 or opus 2 from Bruges seem to have survived. In Amsterdam a separate set of opus numbers were published by Estienne Roger: collect

Giovanni Legrenzi

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Giovanni Legrenzi (baptized August 12, 1626 – May 27, 1690) was an Italian composer of opera, vocal and instrumental music, and organist, of the Baroque era. He was one of the most prominent composers in Venice in the late 17th century, and extremely influential in the development of late Baroque idioms across northern Italy. He was a massive influence on Arcangelo Corelli and Antonio Vivaldi. Life Legrenzi was born at Clusone, near Bergamo, then part of the Republic of Venice. His father, Giovanni Maria Legrenzi, was a professional violinist and, to some extent, a composer. We know Legrenzi had two brothers and two sisters, though one of the brothers, Marco, apparently a talented musician who performed with his father and brother in the 1660s, is not mentioned in Legrenzi’s will: it is presumed that he died young. His remaining brother and sisters are both mentioned in his will. Legrenzi was probably taught largely at home, and his performance skills developed at the local church, and it can also be assumed there was music-making in the house. Legrenzi received his first appointment in Bergamo, as Organist at Santa Maria Maggiore, a magnificent church with a celebrated musical his

Giovanni Lindo Ferretti

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Giovanni Lindo Ferretti (born 9 September 1953) is an Italian singer-songwriter, composer, and author. He is considered to be one of the founders of Italian punk rock music. Biography Lindo Ferretti was born in Cerreto Alpi (frazione of Collagna), in the province of Reggio Emilia, in the western part of the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. After completing his studies and working as a psychiatric nurse for five years, Ferretti traveled around Europe. CCCP In East Berlin, he met , with whom, in 1982, he founded the band CCCP - Fedeli alla linea (“CCCP - Loyal to the line”). CCCP soon became a benchmark of the so-called “alternative music” in Italy. The band dissolved in 1990. CSI In 1992, again with Massimo Zamboni and with an original core member of the Italian band Litfiba, Gianni Maroccolo, he founded a new band called Consorzio Suonatori Indipendenti (“Consortium of Independent Players”), also known as CSI. This band continued until 2000, when Zamboni departed. The bands’ names followed the naming of the political entities of the Soviet Union and its dissolution in the late 20th century. “CCCP” is the Cyrillic lettering for SSSR (i.e. USSR), and “CSI” mimics the Italian acronym

Giovanni Luca Conforti

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Giovanni Luca Conforti (1560 – May 11, 1608) was an Italian composer and prominent falsetto singer who wrote an exercise book about Baroque embellishments, Breve et facile maniera d’essercitarsi ad ogni scolaro or Brief and easy manner of exercising for every student, still in use today. Biography Conforti, also spelled Conforto, was born in Mileto, Calabria, around 1560. He sang in the Papal chapel from 1580 to October 31, 1585. He and several of his colleagues were expelled for joining the Congregazione dei Musici di Roma, membership of which was forbidden to papal singers, though he was later allowed to rejoin. That same year, Conforti is known to have sung at the Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini, a place all well-known musicians of the time performed. In 1595, he performed in a Lenten ceremony at the Arciconfraternita del Santissima Crocefisso under the direction of Luca Marenzio, a prominent Roman composer. Conforti ended up not going to Mantua due to bureaucratic lagtime, but went to serve at S Luigi dei Francesi under Ruggiero Giovanelli in Tivoli. He was there from June 1, 1587 to April 30, 1588. In 1591, he again served the Papal chapel, serving there, in Rome, until his

Giovanni Marco Rutini

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Giovanni Marco Rutini (25 April 1723 – 22 December 1797) was an Italian composer. He is most known for his sonatas which influenced Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Joseph Haydn. Biography He was born in Florence and studied at the Naples Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini. At the conservatorio, he studied composition under the guidance of Leonardo Leo, harpsichord with Nicola Fago and violin with Vito Antonio Pagliarulo. He graduated in 1744, but stayed to teach for several years. In 1748 he moved to Prague and joined the Locatelli ensemble. In the beginnings of his career he devoted himself mainly to the kapellmeister activities, and composed predominantly the cembalo sonatas. Rutini performed his first “Prague opera”, Alessandro nell´Indie, in 1750. Another opera, Semiramide riconosciuta, was dedicated to the “nobility of the Czech Kingdom”. Rutini later moved with Locatelli and his group to Russian St. Petersburg. He composed there the comic operas, mainly to the librettos of Carlo Goldoni. He was also the piano teacher of Catherine II, the future Russian empress. In the early 1760s he returned to Florence, and continued composing operas. He married in April 1761. He continued t

Giovanni Maria Nanino

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Giovanni Maria Nanino (also Nanini; 1543 or 1544 – 11 March 1607) was an Italian composer and teacher of the late Renaissance. He was a member of the Roman School of composers, and was the most influential music teacher in Rome in the late 16th century. He was the older brother of composer Giovanni Bernardino Nanino. Life Nanino was born in Tivoli, and served as a boy soprano in the cathedral at Viterbo. In the 1560s he probably studied with Palestrina at San Luigi de’ Francesi in Rome; at any rate, he became maestro di cappella there after Palestrina left. In 1577 he joined the papal choir as a tenor, and remained in the choir for the rest of his life, occasionally taking the rotating post of maestro di cappella. During the 1590s he was renowned as a teacher; he and his brother established what is thought to be the first Italian-run public music school in Rome and many future composers studied with him and sang in his choirs, including Felice Anerio, Antonio Brunelli, Antonio Cifra and Gregorio Allegri (composer of the famous Miserere). Works Nanino’s output as a composer was not large, but it was distinguished, and his music—especially his madrigals—were extremely popular at the

Giovanni Maria Ruggieri

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Giovanni Maria Ruggieri or Ruggeri was a Baroque composer from Italy. His dates of birth and death are uncertain, but he may have been born about 1665 in Verona and died around 1725. He is known to have flourished from 1689–1720. Life His major works were apparently composed in Venice. His first work, La Clotilde, is extant, and on its title page he described himself as an amateur; the librettist for the same work described him as being distinguished among amateurs and the peer of the most celebrated scholars of music. Other than these fragments, very little is known about his personal life. Archives in the Museo Correr in Venice indicate that he owned several properties and he may have been in the service of the noble Contarini family, to whom he wrote a letter in 1695. His early musical career comprises four collections of trio sonatas, both da camera and da chiesa, published at some time between 1689 and 1697, but these have since been lost. His surviving sonatas display considerable invention and ability with counterpoint. In 1696 Ruggieri began working full-time as a composer and presumably encountered considerable success, because his operas were often revived: Armida abbando

Giovanni Maria Trabaci

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Giovanni Maria Trabaci (ca. 1575 – 31 December 1647) was an Italian composer and organist. He was a prolific composer, with some 300 surviving works preserved in more than 10 publications; he was especially important for his keyboard music. Biography Trabaci was born in Montepeloso (now Irsina, near Matera). Nothing is known about his early life. On 1 December 1594 he was appointed tenor at Santissima Annunziata Maggiore in Naples, but already in 1597 he must have been known as an organist and organ expert, because he was invited that year to test the organ of Oratorio dei Filippini. He served as organist there for a while, and then became, in 1601, organist to the Spanish viceroys at the Chapel Royal of Naples. The second organist was Ascanio Mayone, and Giovanni de Macque was maestro di cappella. Trabaci succeeded Macque in 1614 after the latter’s death, and held the post for the rest of his life. Between 1625 and 1630 he also worked at the Oratorio dei Filippini. Trabaci was most noted for his keyboard works, which include ricercares, canzonas and toccatas collected in two publications (Libro primo…, 1603, Libro secondo…, 1615). His bold harmonic language, with unexpected mo

Giovanni Morandi (composer)

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Giovanni Morandi (12 May 1777 – 23 November 1856) was an Italian organist and composer of the late Classical era and the early Romantic era. Life Morandi was born in Pergola (1777), and died in Senigallia (1856), Italy. He was the most-important Italian composer of organ music in the first half of the 19th century, and was an early mentor of Gioachino Rossini. Works Organ music *Sonate per gli organi moderni (I raccolta) *Sonate per gli organi moderni (II raccolta) *Sonate per gli organi moderni (III raccolta) *Sonate per gli organi moderni (IV raccolta) *Sonate per gli organi moderni (V raccolta) *Sonate per gli organi moderni (VI raccolta) *Sonate per gli organi moderni (VII raccolta) *Sonate per gli organi moderni (VIII raccolta) *Sonate per gli organi moderni (IX raccolta) *Sonate per gli organi moderni (X raccolta) *Sonate per gli organi moderni (XI raccolta) *Sonate per gli organi moderni (XII raccolta) *Gran Sinfonia con variazioni *Pastorale coll’imitazione del suono de’ zampognari *Il santo Natale *6 Sonate *Pastorale *Nuova Pastorale *Sinfonia in pastorale pel SS. Natale *Raccolta di Sinfonie *Suonate per l’accompagnamento d’una Messa solenne *Marcia militare da eseguirsi

Giovanni Moretti (composer)

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Giovanni Moretti (1807 – 1884) was an Italian composer and conductor active in Naples. He was primarily known for his operas, although he also composed numerous pieces of chamber music, sacred music, and art songs. Life and career Moretti was born in Naples. At the age of 10 he began studying piano with Pietro Casella as an external student at the Conservatory of San Pietro a Majella. In 1822 he won a scholarship to study full time at the conservatory where his teachers included Niccolò Zingarelli and Giacomo Tritto. While still a student his azione teatrale, La gioia dei sudditi, was performed at the Teatro Nuovo in 1830 to celebrate the return of Francis I from Spain. Six of his operas composed during his student days were premiered in Naples at the Teatro Fenice and the Teatro Nuovo between 1830 and 1833. Fifteen more premiered over the next 25 years, mostly at the Teatro Nuovo. Moretti had a parallel career as an opera conductor. He was the music director of the Teatro del Fondo from 1840 to 1842 and of the Teatro Nuovo from 1851 to 1861. During this time he also taught counterpoint and singing at San Pietro a Majella where he was in great demand for students intending a career

Giovanni Pacini

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Giovanni Pacini (11 February 17966 December 1867) was an Italian composer from the late Classical and early Romantic eras. He is best known for his operas. Pacini was born in Catania, Sicily, the son of the buffo Luigi Pacini, who was to appear in the premieres of many of Giovanni’s operas. The family was of Tuscan origin, living in Catania when the composer was born. He served as the Florence Conservatory’s first director from 1849 through 1862. His first 25 or so operas were written when Gioachino Rossini dominated the Italian operatic stage. But Pacini’s operas were “rather superficial”, a fact which, later, he candidly admitted in his Memoirs. For some years he held the post of “director of the Teatro San Carlo in Naples.” After Rossini moved to Paris in 1824, Pacini and his contemporaries (Giacomo Meyerbeer, Nicola Vaccai, Michele Carafa, Carlo Coccia, Vincenzo Bellini, Gaetano Donizetti, the brothers Federico and Luigi Ricci, and Saverio Mercadante) collectively began to change the nature of Italian opera and took bel canto singing in a new direction. Orchestration became heavier, coloratura was reduced, especially for men’s voices, and more importance was placed on lyrical p

Giovanni Paisiello

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Giovanni Paisiello (or Paesiello; 9 May 1740 – 5 June 1816) was an Italian composer of the Classical era, and was the most popular opera composer of the late 1700s. His operatic style influenced Mozart and Rossini. Life Paisiello was born in Taranto in the Apulia region and educated by the Jesuits there. He became known for his beautiful singing voice and in 1754 was sent to the Conservatorio di S. Onofrio at Naples, where he studied under Francesco Durante, and eventually became assistant master. For the theatre of the Conservatorio, which he left in 1763, he wrote some intermezzi, one of which attracted so much notice that he was invited to write two operas, La Pupilla and Il Mondo al Rovescio, for Bologna, and a third, Il Marchese di Tidipano, for Rome. Works Operas * R 1.00 La moglie in calzoni (18.2.1764, Modena) * R 1.01 Il ciarlone (12.5.1764, Bologna) – lost * R 1.02 I francesi brillanti (24.6.1764, Bologna) * R 1.03 Madama l’umorista, o Gli stravaganti (26.1.1765, Modena) – lost * R 1.04 L’amore in ballo (carnival 1765, Venice S Moisè) * R 1.05 La mascherata delle nozze di Bacco e d’Arianna (11.2.1765, Modena) * I bagni d’Abano (spring 1765, Parma) * Il negligente (1765, P

Giovanni Paolo Caprioli

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Giovanni Paolo Caprioli (c. 1580c. 1627) was an Italian priest, abbate in Candiana, and composer. Life and career Caprioli was born in Brescia in 1571 ca. and died January 1630 in the convent of St. John the Evangelist during the plague. The noble family from Brescia Caprioli is attested in documents citizens since the eleventh century. Gentlemen from the time of Henry III of the lands of Capriolo (BS), moved into town in the early fourteenth century living in different buildings but particularly in the palace Caprioli Via Elia Capriolo. The family was the birthplace of two important musicians: Alfonso Antonio Caprioli (sec. XV - composer of lies and strambotti) and John Paul that in 1587 he entered the convent of Scandiano (PD) belongs to the Congregation of the Rhenish Lateran Canons of SS. Savior of Bologna. In this religious order the severity and austerity of monastic life married with a keen sensitivity to the artistic decoration of the churches and a special interest in a cultural qualification through the study. Figures of great composers and organists will require a bit ‘anywhere in the various convents of the Congregation, especially in Bologna, Mantua, Venice and Brescia

Giovanni Paolo Colonna

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Giovanni Paolo Colonna (16 June 1637 – 28 November 1695) was an Italian composer, teacher, organist and organ builder. In addition to being chapel-master and organist of San Petronio Basilica in Bologna, he served prominent members of the courts of Ferrara, Parma, Modena and Florence. He was a founder-member and president of the Accademia Filarmonica di Bologna. Emperor Leopold I collected manuscripts of his sacred music, which reflects the Roman church cantata style of Giacomo Carissimi and looks forward to the manner of George Frideric Handel. Biography Colonna was born on 16 June 1637 in Bologna (at the time, the second largest city of the Papal States after Rome), the third of four brothers in a family of five children, son of Antonio Colonna (c. 1600–1666), a well-known organ builder, and his wife, Francesca Dinarelli. Colonna’s father, nicknamed Dal Corno, was the adopted son of Stefano Colonna, a member of a large and successful family of organ-builders which had been active in central-northern Italy since the previous century. He was a pupil of Agostino Filippuzzi in Bologna, and of Antonio Maria Abbatini and Orazio Benevoli in Rome, where for a time he held the post of org

Giovanni Paolo Foscarini

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Giovanni Paolo Foscarini (fl. 1600 – 1647) was an Italian guitarist, lutenist, theorist and composer. A note at the end of the list of contents in his earliest surviving guitar book Intavolatura di chitarra spagnola. Libro secondo (1629) refers to him a Musico, e Sonatore, di Liuto e Tiorba, della Venerabile Compagnia del Saatissimo sic Sacramento d’Ancona. He was also a member of the Accademia dei Caliginosi in Ancona, identifying himself in his earlier books only by the name of the society together with his own academic name Il Furioso. In the introduction to his third book printed in about 1630 he claims to be well known as a lutenist both in Italy and abroad, especially at the court of Archduke Alberto in the Spanish Netherlands. Archduke Albert, a nephew of Philip II of Spain, was governor of the Spanish Netherlands from 1595 until his death in 1621. Foscarini must have been in the Netherlands sometime before that date. He was active in Rome, Venice, Brussels, and Paris. Letters which he wrote to the Dutch scholar Constantijn Huygens from Paris at the beginning of 1649 give some information about his later years. He was planning to travel to Italy, but was ill in bed and witho

Giovanni Picchi

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Giovanni Picchi (1571 or 1572 – 17 May 1643) was an Italian composer, organist, lutenist, and harpsichordist of the early Baroque era. He was a late follower of the Venetian School, and was influential in the development and differentiation of instrumental forms which were just beginning to appear, such as the sonata and the ensemble canzona; in addition he was the only Venetian of his time to write dance music for harpsichord. Life Little is known about Picchi’s early life, but his birthdate (1571 or 1572) can be inferred from his death record which states that he was 71 when he died on 17 May 1643. The earliest documentary evidence pertaining to him, unusually enough, is a picture: he appears as a lutenist on the title page of a 1600 dance manual by Fabritio Caroso (Nobilità di dame). Sometime before February 1607 he was hired as organist at the Venetian church of the Frari, and from 1623 to his death he was also organist at the confraternity Scuola di San Rocco, the most prestigious and wealthy of all the Venetian confraternities. In 1624 he applied for the position of second organist at St. Mark’s, but Giovanni Pietro Berti was chosen instead. He was a close contemporary of Mon

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

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Biography#

Palestrina was born in the town of Palestrina, near Rome, then part of the Papal States, to Neapolitan parents, Santo and Palma Pierluigi, in 1525, possibly on 3 February. His mother died on 16 January 1536, when Palestrina was 10. Documents suggest that he first visited Rome in 1537, when he was listed as a chorister at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the papal basilicas of the Diocese of Rome, which allowed him to learn literature and music. From 1544 to 1551, Palestrina was the organist of the Cathedral of St. Agapito, the principal church of his native city. In 1551 Pope Julius III (previously the Bishop of Palestrina) appointed Palestrina maestro di cappella or musical director of the Cappella Giulia, (Julian Chapel, in the sense of choir), the choir of the chapter of canons at St. Peter’s Basilica. Palestrina dedicated to Julius III his first published compositions (1554), a book of Masses. It was the first book of Masses by a native composer, since in the Italian states of Palestrina’s day, most composers of sacred music were from the Low Countries, France, or Spain. In fact the book was modelled on one by Cristóbal de Morales: the woodcut in the front is almost an exact copy of the one from the book by the Spanish composer. In 1555, Pope Paul IV ordered that all papal choristers should be clerical. As Palestrina married early in life and had four children, he was unable to continue in the chapel as a layman. A five-part Libera me Domine psalm for three choirs was sung at the funeral. Palestrina’s funeral was held at St. Peter’s, and he was buried beneath the floor of the basilica. His tomb was later covered by new construction and attempts to locate his grave have been unsuccessful. Italian composers Giovanni Maria Nanino and Gregorio Allegri, both of them disciples of his school, continued his works.

Giovanni Priuli

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Giovanni Priuli (or Prioli, ca. 1575–1626) was a Venetian composer and organist of the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. A late member of the Venetian School, and a contemporary of Claudio Monteverdi, he was a prominent musician in Venice in the first decade of the 17th century, departing after the death of his associate Giovanni Gabrieli and ending his career at the Habsburg court in Austria. His music straddled the dividing-line between Renaissance and Baroque idioms. Life Little is known of Priuli’s early life except that he was born in Venice around 1575. Information about the first twenty-five years of his life is lacking. Beginning in 1600, he was a close associate of Gabrieli, and it is presumed he may have been his student; the two were associated for the duration of Priuli’s Venetian career. When Priuli is first mentioned in the records of St. Mark’s, he was already an experienced musician, being hired as assistant organist to Gabrieli on several occasions between 1600 and 1605. In May 1607 he received a more permanent position as deputy organist; prior to that, the payment records indicated that his hires were for single engagements. Since St. Mark’s had two reg

Giovanni Punto

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Jan Václav Stich, better known as Giovanni Punto (28 September 1746 in Žehušice – 16 February 1803 in Prague) was a horn player from Bohemia and a pioneer of the hand-stopping technique which allows natural horns to play a greater number of notes. Early life Stich was born in Žehušice in Bohemia. His father was a serf bonded to the estate of Count Joseph Johann Thun und Hohenstein, but Stich was taught singing, violin and finally the horn. The Count sent him to study horn under Joseph Matiegka in Prague, Jan Schindelarz in Munich, and finally with A. J. Hampel in Dresden (from 1763 to 1764). Hampel first taught Stich the hand-stopping technique which he later improved and extended. Stich then returned to the service of the Count, where he remained for the next four years. At the age of 20 Stich and four friends ran away from the estate. The Count, who had invested heavily in Stich’s education, dispatched soldiers with orders to knock out Stich’s front teeth to prevent him ever playing the horn again, but they failed to capture the group, and Stich crossed into Italy. Punto around Europe On arriving in Italy, Stich changed his name to Giovanni Punto (an approximate Italianisation of

Giovanni Ricordi

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Giovanni Ricordi (3 March 1785 – 15 March 1853) was an Italian violinist and the founder of the classical music publishing company Casa Ricordi. The musicologist Philip Gossett described him as “a genius and positive force in the history of Italian opera”. Ricordi was born in Milan in 1785 to Gianbatista Ricordi, who was a glassmaker, and Angiola de Medici. Ricordi studied the violin from an early age and, for a short time, became the concertmaster and conductor of the small puppet theatre Fiando. In 1803 he created a in Milan where he worked as a music copyist and dealer in printed music and instruments with the Teatro Carcano, which opened in that year, and with the Teatro Lentasio. In 1807 he studied in Leipzig at the Breitkopf & Härtel company to learn the techniques of engraving and printing. When he returned to Milan in early 1808, he founded his publishing company with a partner who dropped out by the middle of the year. As MacNutt notes, during its first decade the company produced some 30 publications each year. That number increased to 300 after 1814 because Giovanni had secured a succession of contracts, including one in that year which allowed him to publish all the mus

Giovanni Schmidt

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Giovanni Schmidt (c. 1775 in Livorno – c. after 1839 in Naples) was an Italian librettist. Life He moved to Naples while he was still young and stayed there for the rest of his life. Between 1800 and 1839 he wrote libretti for 45 operas, especially for the Teatro San Carlo for which he was the official poet. He and Andrea Leone Tottola were the two librettists who dominated theatrical life in Naples in the first quarter of the 19th century. His lyrics were mostly banal and verbose, but were set by the most important composers of the era, such as Giacomo Tritto, Gaetano Andreozzi, Luigi Mosca, Pietro Generali, Saverio Mercadante and Gioachino Rossini. For Rossini alone he wrote texts for Elisabetta, regina d’Inghilterra, Eduardo e Cristina, Armida and Adelaide di Borgogna, which are considered his best works. He also appeared as a character in a scene from the 1991 film Rossini! Rossini! directed by Mario Monicelli. Works Libretti *Meleagro (opera seria; music by Nicola Antonio Zingarelli, 1798) *Idante ovvero I sacrifici d’Eccate (dramma per musica; music by Marcos António Portugal, 1800) *Gli americani (opera seria; music by Giacomo Tritto; 1802) *Piramo e Tisbe (opera seria; musi

Giovanni Sgambati

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Giovanni Sgambati (28 May 1841 – 14 December 1914) was an Italian pianist and composer. Biography Born in Rome, to an Italian father and an English mother, Sgambati, who lost his father early, received his early education at Trevi, in Umbria, where he wrote some church music and obtained experience as a singer and conductor. In 1860 he settled in Rome, and took up the work of winning acceptance for the best German music, then little known in Italy. The influence and support of Franz Liszt, who was in Rome from 1861, was naturally of great advantage to him, and concerts were given in which Sgambati conducted as well as played the piano. His compositions at this period (1864–1865) included a quartet, two piano quintets, an octet, and an overture. He conducted Liszt’s Dante Symphony on 26 February 1866 at the opening of the Sala di Dante at the Palazzo Poli, with 27 of Filippo Bigioli’s paintings exhibited nearby. He made the acquaintance of Richard Wagner’s music for the first time in Munich, where he travelled in Liszt’s company. His first album of songs appeared in 1870 (Schott Music), and his first symphony was played at the Palazzo del Quirinale in 1881; this, as well as a piano

Giovanni Sollima

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Giovanni Sollima (born 24 October 1962 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy) is an Italian composer and cellist. He was born into a family of musicians and studied cello with Giovanni Perriera and composition with his father, Eliodoro Sollima, at the Conservatorio di Palermo, where he graduated with highest honors. He later studied with Antonio Janigro and Milko Kelemen at the Musikhochschule Stuttgart and at the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg. As a composer, Sollima’s influences are wide ranging, taking in jazz and rock, as well as various ethnic traditions from the Mediterranean area. Sollima’s music is influenced by minimalism, with his compositions often featuring modal melodies and repetitive structures. Because his works are characterized by a more diverse and eclectic approach to material than the early American minimalist composers, the American critic Kyle Gann has called Sollima a postminimalist composer. Sollima teaches at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome and plays a cello by Francesco Ruggieri (made in Cremona in 1679). He has collaborated with the American poet and musician Patti Smith, appearing on her records and performing with her in concert. He also collabora

Giovanni Stefano Carbonelli

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Giovanni Stefano Carbonelli (c. 9 March 1690/1691, Livorno, Grand Duchy of Tuscany – 1772, London), after 1734 Anglicised to John Stephen Carbonell, was an Italian-born British composer and violinist, who later abandoned his musical career to become a vintner under royal patronage. Life Giovanni Stefano Carbonelli was born in the Italian port city of Livorno to Pietro Carboneu (alternatively Carboneo or Carbonell) and Teresa Cocchi. His year of birth is uncertain, with dates varying from 1690/1691 to 1699/1700. His father was a Frenchman who had immigrated from Aix-en-Provence, Province of Provence, while his mother was a local Leghorner. Not much is known of his early musical education; he was reputedly a pupil of Arcangelo Corelli, although there is little documentary evidence to support this. In 1711 and 1712, he was one of the violinists in the local ensemble during the celebrations of the Feast of Santa Croce in Lucca (13–14 September); on these occasions his name was recorded as “Gio: Stefano Carbonèo”. In 1716–1717 he lived in Venice, where he became acquainted with Antonio Vivaldi. Carbonelli participated in Vivaldi’s operatic productions, playing in the accompanying orches

Giovanni Tadolini

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Giovanni Tadolini (18 October 1789 – 29 November 1872) was an Italian composer, conductor and singing instructor, who enjoyed a career that alternated between Bologna and Paris. Tadolini is probably best known for completing six sections of Rossini’s 1833 version of the Stabat mater after the latter fell sick. However, he also composed eight operas as well as sinfonias, sonatas, chamber music, and numerous pieces of religious music and art songs. Biography Born in Bologna, he studied privately with Matteo Rubini (singing) and Stanislao Mattei (composition) at the Liceo Musicale (now the Conservatorio Giovanni Battista Martini) of his native city, before going to work at the Théâtre-Italien in Paris as a répétiteur and chorus master from 1811 to 1814. Following the occupation of Paris by the Russian and Austrian armies in 1814, he returned to Italy where over the next 15 years he wrote a series of operas and served as a conductor and chorus master for the Teatro Comunale di Bologna. He also became a member of Bologna’s Accademia Filarmonica and maestro di cappella of St. Peter’s Cathedral in the city. In 1827, he married the soprano Eugenia Tadolini (née Savorani) who had been his s

Giovanni Valentini

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Giovanni Valentini (ca. 1582 – 29/30 April 1649) was an Italian Baroque composer, poet and keyboard virtuoso. Overshadowed by his contemporaries, Claudio Monteverdi and Heinrich Schütz, Valentini is practically forgotten today, although he occupied one of the most prestigious musical posts of his time. He is best remembered for his innovative usage of asymmetric meters and the fact that he was Johann Kaspar Kerll’s first teacher. Life Little is known about Valentini’s life. He was born around 1582/3, probably in Venice, and almost certainly studied music under Giovanni Gabrieli there. Although the typical graduation Opus 1 of madrigals to be expected from a Gabrieli pupil – such as Opus 1 of Mogens Pedersøn (1608), Johann Grabbe (1609) and Heinrich Schütz (1611) – is not extant, Antimo Liberati (1617–1692) who worked in Venice in the 1640s records him in a letter of the 1680s as “Giovanni Valentini Veneziano, della famosa Schola de’ Gabrielli.” In approximately 1604/5 Valentini was appointed as organist of the Polish court chapel under Sigismund III Vasa; his first published works are dated 1609 and 1611, when he was still in Poland. In 1614 Valentini was employed by Ferdinand II (

Giraut de Bornelh

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Giraut de Bornelh (; c. 1138 – 1215), whose first name is also spelled Guiraut and whose toponym is de Borneil or de Borneyll, was a troubadour connected to the castle of the viscount of Limoges. He is credited with the formalisation, if not the invention, of the “light” style, or trobar leu. Giraut was born to a lower-class family in the Limousin, probably in Bourney, near Excideuil in modern-day France. Giraut’s poems were first published in various collections, including Millot’s Histoire litteraire des troubadours (Paris, 1774) and Raynouard’s Choix des poésies originales des troubadours (Paris, 1816). Several of his poems were publosher in Alan R. Press’ Anthology of Troubadour Lyric Poetry (1971). An English edition by Ruth V. Sharma has been published in 1989. One of the most popular troubadours of his day, Giraut’s reputation endured throughout the 13th century, when he was known as the Master of the Troubadours. Dante placed him in Paradise as a poeta rectitudinis, but implied that he thought Arnaut Daniel a better poet. Petrarch called him “master of the troubadours”. Though rebarbative to modern taste when they adopt the high moral tone that recommended them to Dante, Gi

Girolamo Abos

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Girolamo Abos, last name also given Avos or d’Avossa and baptized Geronimo Abos (16 November 1715 – May 1760), was a Maltese-Italian composer of both operas and church music. Born in Valletta, Malta, son of Gian Tommaso Abos, whose father was a Frenchman from Castellane and Rosa Farrugia, Abos studied under Leonardo Leo and Francesco Durante in Naples. In 1756, he became Maestro al Cembalo (Director of Music) at the Italian Theatre in London. In 1758 he returned to Italy as a teacher at the Conservatorio della Pietà de’ Turchini in Naples, where Giovanni Paisiello was one of his pupils . He wrote fourteen operas for the opera houses in Naples, Rome, and London, of which Tito Manlio (Naples, 1751) was the most successful. After 1758 he composed a good deal of church music, including seven masses and several litanies. He died in Naples. Many of his sacred works, oratorios, and the opera Pelopida have been edited by the Australian musicologist and conductor Richard Divall, and are freely available. List of operas composed by Abos References *Stabat Mater Gerolamo Abos ed. Joseph Vella Bondin Recent Researches in the Music of the Classical Era, 68, A-R Editions, Inc., Middleton, Wiscon

Girolamo Bacchini

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Giovanni Maria Bacchini (also known as Teodoro del Carmine and “Bacchino”) was an Italian castrato, composer, writer on music, and Roman Catholic priest who flourished during the late 16th century and early 17th century. Life and career Bacchini was a Carmelite friar who was highly active in church circles in Mantua from the late 1580s into the early part of the 17th century. During the 1580s he composed numerous masses for the Palatine church of Santa Barbara at the Ducal palace, Mantua which had been built by the then-reigning Duke of Mantua, Guglielmo Gonzaga. After Guglielmo’s death in 1587, he continued to serve as a musician for the Mantuan Court and was active in Mantuan church circles up into the first few years of the 17th century. It is speculated that Bacchini sang the role of Euridice in the world premiere of Moneteverdi’s L’Orfeo at the court of Prince Francesco Gonzaga of Mantua in 1607. This is based on a 1608 letter to Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua which refers to “that little priest who performed the role of Euridice in the Most Serene Prince’s Orfeo”. However, musicologist Tim Carter points out that by 1607 Bacchini had already left the service of the Mantuan C

Girolamo Belli

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Girolamo Belli (1552 – c. 1620) was an Italian composer and music teacher of the late Renaissance. He was closely associated with the Ferrara School in the 1580s, having previously studied with Luzzasco Luzzaschi, and was noted for his composition of both madrigals and sacred music. Life Belli was born in Argenta, a town southeast of Ferrara, between Ferrara and Ravenna, and received some of his early music instruction from Luzzaschi. In his youth he went to Mantua, to sing in the Duke’s private court establishment, and later he went to Rome. Sometime around 1580 he went to Ferrara, which contained, at the court of the Este family, one of the most progressive musical establishments of the late 16th century, and there he began to write madrigals in the pre-Baroque, monodic style of Luzzaschi. Evidently Belli attempted to secure permanent employment at the Ferrara court, but he seems to have been unsuccessful. During the late 1580s he may have worked again for the Gonzagas in Mantua, but if so, the dates are not known. For most of the remainder of his life he worked in Argenta as maestro di cappella and music teacher, but since Argenta was a relative backwater compared to Ferrara, Ve

Girolamo Cavazzoni

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Girolamo (Hieronimo) Cavazzoni (c. 1525 – after 1577) was an Italian organist and composer, son of Marco Antonio Cavazzoni. Little is known about his life except that he worked at Venice and Mantua, and published two collections of organ music. These collections only contain music written before about 1549, but are of high quality, and established the traditional form of imitative ricercars and canzonas. Life Practically nothing is known about Cavazzoni’s life. The approximate year of his birth can be surmised from his remarks in the preface to Intavolatura libro primo, the first collection of his music to be published. The volume was printed in Venice in 1543, and Cavazzoni informs the reader in the preface that he is “not much more than a boy” (anchor quasi fanciullo), which indicates Cavazzoni was around 17 at the time. Cavazzoni’s reputation must have been considerably high already at that time, since he was able to secure a privilege from the Venetian council to publish this collection. The second collection of Cavazzoni’s music, Intabulatura d’organo, carries no publication date (it appeared somewhere between 1543 and 1549) and contains no biographical details. By 1552 Cavazz

Girolamo Conversi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Girolamo Conversi (fl. 1572–1575) was an Italian composer of the late Renaissance. His music, which was popular from the 1570s through the 1590s, was noted for its combination of the light canzone alla napolitana with the literary and musical sophistication of the madrigal. He appears to have written only secular vocal music. Life Little is known of his life but what can be inferred from the dedications to his madrigal books. He was born in Correggio in Reggio Emilia. In 1575 he dedicated a book of madrigals to Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle, the Spanish Viceroy of Naples, and described himself as being in that man’s service. Whether he lived in Naples at the time, or elsewhere in the Spanish Kingdom of Naples, is not known. Since his only publications after 1575 are reprints – in copious quantity – he may have died around that year. Unusually for a popular composer of the time, he seems to have held no positions either in aristocratic courts or religious institutions for which records have been kept. Music and influence Conversi’s music is distinguished by its marriage of the lightness of the Neapolitan villanella, also known as the canzone alla napolitana, with the more serious an

Girolamo Dalla Casa

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Girolamo Dalla Casa, also known as Girolamo da Udine and Hieronymo de Udene, was an Italian composer, instrumentalist, and writer of the late Renaissance. He was a member of the Venetian School, and more influential as a performer than as a composer. NOTOC Nothing is known about his life prior to his arrival at Venice, but he was probably born at Udine sometime before the middle of the 16th century. He was first hired by the musical establishment of St Mark’s Basilica on 29 January 1568, along with his two brothers, Giovanni and Nicolò, where they formed the first permanent instrumental ensemble.. The sonorous acoustical environment of this basilica was the center of activity of the Venetians. Giovanni Gabrieli clearly had Dalla Casa’s group in mind for much of his music, and the Dalla Casas are presumed to have played in many the elaborate polychoral compositions of the time. In 1572, Dalla Casa served as Venetian agent for the purchase of a large number of wind instruments and printed editions of music for the court of John of Austria, half-brother of Philip II of Spain and hero of the Battle of Lepanto in the previous year. The transaction, made though the Spanish resident a

Girolamo Diruta

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Girolamo Diruta (c. 1546 – 1624 or 1625) was an Italian organist, music theorist, and composer. He was famous as a teacher, for his treatise Il Transilvano (Venice, 1st part 1593; 2nd part 1609-10 ) on counterpoint, and for his part in the development of keyboard technique, particularly on the organ. He was born in Deruta, near Perugia. Biography Diruta was born in Deruta in 1546 c. He became a friar minor conventual in the convent Perugia in 1566; later, from 1569 to 1574, he was in the convent of Correggio. Around 1578 he moved to Venice, where he met Claudio Merulo, Gioseffo Zarlino and Costanzo Porta (who was also a friar minor conventual), and he probably studied with each of them. Merulo mentioned Diruta in a prefatory letter to the Transilvano (1593), as one of his finest students. From 1580 until 1585 he was organist at the Gubbio cathedral. He returned in Venice at the Frari convent, where he was organist from 1586 until 1589. By 1593 he was organist at Chioggia cathedral. In these year he dedicated the first part of his treatise Il Transilvano to Sigismund Bathory, prince of Transylvania. Later he returned to live in Umbria. He was again organist at the Gubbio cathedral f

Girolamo Frescobaldi

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Girolamo Alessandro Frescobaldi (; also Gerolamo, Girolimo, and Geronimo Alissandro; September 15831 March 1643) was an Italian composer and virtuoso keyboard player. Born in the Duchy of Ferrara, he was one of the most important composers of keyboard music in the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. A child prodigy, Frescobaldi studied under Luzzasco Luzzaschi in Ferrara, but was influenced by many composers, including Ascanio Mayone, Giovanni Maria Trabaci, and Claudio Merulo. Girolamo Frescobaldi was appointed organist of St. Peter’s Basilica, a focal point of power for the Cappella Giulia (a musical organisation), from 21 July 1608 until 1628 and again from 1634 until his death. Frescobaldi’s printed collections contain some of the most influential music of the 17th century. His work influenced Johann Jakob Froberger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Henry Purcell, and other major composers. Pieces from his celebrated collection of liturgical organ music, Fiori musicali (1635), were used as models of strict counterpoint as late as the 19th century. Life Frescobaldi was born in Ferrara. His father Filippo was a man of property, possibly an organist since both Girolamo and his half-

Girolamo Montesardo

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Girolamo Montesardo (fl. 1606 – c. 1620) was an Italian singer and composer. Life Although his surname was actually Melcarne, he was referred to by his home town Montesardo, a small town in the Province of Lecce. He worked as a singer at the San Petronio Basilica in Bologna, as a maestro di cappella at Fano and at Ancona. His earliest extant work was published in Florence in 1606. His guitar book Nuova inventione d’intavolatura per sonare li balletti sopra la Chitarra Spagniuola is the earliest to have been printed using alphabet notation of chords for rasgueado playing a five-course guitar. This had been in use in Italy and possibly Spain for some time before 1606. Montesardo does not claim to have invented this form of notation. His ‘Nuova inventione’ refers to his system for indicating the metre and note values with which the music is played. This involves using upper case and lower case letters to represent the minim and the crotchet respectively. A dot after the letter has the same function as it does in modern staff notation; it increases the value of the note by half its original value. This style of music printed in alfabeto became very popular in Italy during the 17th cent

Girolamo Scotto

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Girolamo Scotto (Hieronymus Scotus; also Gerolamo) (c.1505 – 3 September 1572 ) was an Italian printer, composer, businessman and bookseller of the Renaissance, active mainly in Venice. He was the most influential member of the firm of Venetian printers, the House of Scotto, which existed from the late 15th century until 1615. At its peak in the 1560s, the Scotto firm under Girolamo was one of the preeminent publishing firms of Europe, producing volumes on law, scholasticism, philosophy, medicine, theology, and ancient literature in addition to music. Only the firm of Gardano produced more books of music in the 16th century than the House of Scotto under Girolamo; over half of Scotto’s publications, 409 out of approximately 800 in total, were books of music. Life and work Girolamo was one of six children of Bernardino Scotto, of Milan (1447–1537). Born in Milan, his early life is undocumented, and prior to the first appearance of his name on a Scotto-published book in 1539, his name appears only once in the historical record: in a petition to the Venetian Senate dated 1536 requesting a printing privilege for a work of scholastic philosophy by Marcantonio Zimara on Averroes’ comment

Gisbert Steenwick

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Gisbert Steenwick (also Gijsbert) (baptized 6 January 1642 – buried 20 August 1679) was a Dutch composer, organist, and carillonneur. He was born in Arnhem, where already at 21 he was a member of the local collegium musicum Caecilia. In January 1665 Steenwick was appointed organist of St Eusebiuskerk in Arnhem, and on 22 October that year he was made municipal organist. He left Arnhem in 1674 and went to Kampen, where on 6 June 1674 he was appointed organist and carillonneur at the Bovenkerk. He died some five years later in Kampen, at the age of 37. Today Steenwick is known for a few keyboard pieces contained in a manuscript he compiled before 1674 for a pupil, Anna Maria van Eyl, daughter of an Arnhem patrician. The manuscript contains 33 pieces of music, including dances and arrangements of, and variations on, folksongs. Only nine compositions are signed by Steenwick, but more can be attributed to him on stylistic grounds. Among the securely attributed works are arrangements of popular songs such as More Palatino, Puer natus in Bethleem, and Heiligh saligh Bethlehem, and dances (sarabandes, allemandes) with variations. Opinions differ on the quality of Steenwick’s writing: while

Gisela Hernández

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Gisela Hernández Gonzalo (1912−1971) was a Cuban composer. Aware of political necessity, she established ties with the Castro government in return for recognition of her activities as a music teacher and composer. She was also a member of the nationalistic Grupo Minorista that led a movement to incorporate Afro-Cuban sounds into larger forms of music. Hernández taught music at the Hubert de Blanck Conservatory, and with Olga De Blanck Martín, director of the conservatory, she developed a music education system that made significant changes in Mexican music education. With de Blanck, she also co-founded Ediciones de Blanck publishing and became instrumental in publishing critical editions of Ignacio Cervantes’ music. Works Hernández often used Afro-Cuban elements in her compositions. Selected works include: *Triptico, song cycle, 1967 (Text: Guillén, poet) “Palma sola” “¡Ay, señora mi vencia!” “Sangres derramadas” *Deprisa tierra, deprisa (in Nueve canciones) (Text: Juan Ramón Jiménez) *Diálogo (in Nueve canciones) (Text: Dulce María Loynaz) *Huerto de marzo (in Nueve canciones) (Text: Federico García Lorca) *Mi corazón lo tragó el mar (in Nueve canciones) (Text: Mirta Aguirre Carre

Giselher Klebe

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Giselher Wolfgang Klebe (28 June 19255 October 2009) was a German composer, and an academic teacher. He composed more than 140 works, among them 14 operas, all based on literary works, eight symphonies, 15 solo concerts, chamber music, piano works, and sacred music. Biography Giselher Klebe was born in Mannheim, Germany. He received musical tuition early in his life from his mother, the violinist Gertrud Klebe. The family relocated in 1932 to Munich, where his mother’s sister, Melanie Michaelis, continued the training. His father’s profession required a further relocation in 1936 to Rostock. His first opera, based on Friedrich Schiller’s play Die Räuber (The Robbers), was produced in 1957. Works References Notes Sources *Erik Levi, “Klebe, Giselher”, in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, ed. Stanley Sadie (London, 1992) * External links * Giselher-Klebe-Archiv, Archive of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin * “Giselher Klebe (1925–2009)”, Klassika * “Giselher Klebe_100, Festival zum 100. Geburtstag von Giselher Klebe in Detmold, vom 24.10. bis zum 14.12.2025”, program notes for the commemoration of Klebe’s 100th birthday, Christian Köhn, Detmold

Gisella Selden-Goth

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Gisella Selden-Goth (6 June 1884 – 5 September 1975) was a Hungarian author, composer and musicologist who became an American citizen in 1939. She composed at least four string quartets and donated her large collection of original music manuscripts to the Library of Congress. Biography Selden-Goth was born in Budapest to Michael and Rosalia Schlesinger. Her music teachers included Béla Bartók, Ferruccio Busoni, and István Thomán. Her set of piano compositions, , was one of 10 winners (out of 874 submissions) in the 1910 competition in Germany. She married Ernst Goth and they had a daughter, Trudy Goth, who became a dancer and journalist. Selden-Goth lived in Berlin and Florence, Italy, before emigrating to America in 1938. She returned to Florence in 1950 and remained there until her death in 1975. She served as a music critic for newspapers in Berlin, Prague, Switzerland, and Budapest, most notably for Prager Tagblatt, a German newspaper in Prague. She maintained a lengthy correspondence with the Austrian writer Stefan Zweig, often discussing their mutual interest in collecting original music scores. After Zweig’s suicide, Selden-Goth commented that, “A chamber group in a house or

Gisle Kverndokk

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Gisle Kverndokk (born 3 February 1967 in Trondheim, raised in Skien) is a Norwegian contemporary composer. Education In his teens, Kverndokk studied composition with Ragnar Søderlind. After having completed high school, Kverndokk enrolled at the Norwegian Academy of Music from which he graduated with diploma in 1994, having studied under the tutorship of Olav Anton Thommessen, Lasse Thoresen and Alfred Janson. Kverndokk has also studied at the Juilliard School in New York with John Corigliano and David Diamond. Career 1992 saw Kverndokk being bestowed with one of the main prizes of the Juilliard Composers Competition with his orchestral work Selene. For his work Initiasjon for fiolin og orkester, Kverndokk received the 1993 First Prize in the category for composers under the age of 30 at the International Rostrum of Composers held in Paris. Kverndokk has composed two solo concertos, both premiered by the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra; Concerto for oboe and orchestra (1996) and Concerto for flute and orchestra (1998). His Peer Gynt Fantasi was composed for violinist Arve Tellefsen and the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra for a summer concert premiere at Oslo’s Holmenkollen in 2000. Durin

Gitta Steiner

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Gitta Hana Steiner (April 17, 1932 – January 1, 1990) was a Czech-American composer and pianist who is best known for her works for percussion instruments. Steiner was born in Prague to Erna Bondy and Erhard (Eric) Steiner. The family moved to New York in 1940, Steiner earned a B. Mus. and M.S. from the Juilliard School, where she received the Abraham Ellstein Scholarship. She was a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center in 1967. Her teachers included Elliott Carter, Vincent Persichetti, and Gunther Schuller. She taught piano and theory privately and at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. Steiner received awards and honors which included the 1972 American Society of Composers and Publishers (ASCAP) Award, the Donell Library Composer’s Forum Honor, the Gretchaninoff Memorial Prize, and the Marion Freschl Award. Her music was published by Seesaw Music Corporation (today Subito Music Corporation). References

Gity Razaz

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Gity Razaz is an American composer of Iranian origin. She has written music for symphony orchestra, opera, ballet, chamber ensemble, and solo instrumentalist, as well as pieces with multimedia and electroacoustic elements. Life and career Gity Razaz began her classical training at the age of seven, and graduated with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music composition from The Juilliard School where she studied with John Corigliano, Samuel Adler, and Robert Beaser. She was the composer-in-residence at the inaugural season of National Sawdust from 2016 to 2017. Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Corigliano has called her a “unique composer whose ‘Middle-Eastern roots have merged with her Western sensibilities to produce music that is both original and startling. She is on her way to becoming a major force in contemporary music.’” Her music has been described by The New York Times as “ravishing and engulfing” and possessing “an uncompromising beauty” by BBC Music Magazine. Razaz’s music has been performed throughout the United States and internationally, including at London’s Royal Albert Hall for the Last Night of the 2021 BBC Proms, Carnegie Hall, National Sawdust, The Jerome L.

Giulia Recli

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Giulia Recli (1890 – 19 December 1970) was an Italian composer and essayist. She won first and second prizes at musical competitions in New York, and her works Chimes at Sunrise and Nicolette s’Endorte were performed by the Metropolitan Opera. A concert of her work alongside that of three other women composers was performed in a symphony concert in Rome in 1965. Her music was also acclaimed in Germany. Recli was awarded the title Cavaliere Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana. Life Born in Milan, Recli was a student under Ildebrando Pizzetti and Victor de Sabata, learning piano, composition and singing. She was awarded first and second prizes at New York musical competitions. Recli’s works were introduced to American audiences by Tullio Serafin. In 1926, at a Metropolitan Opera concert headlining Belgian violinist, César Thomson, Recli’s Chimes at Sunrise was performed. In 1931, Recli’s Nicolette s’Endorte, described by The New York Times as a “graceful lullaby”, The other composers were Sandra Caratelli Surace, Norma Beecroft of Canada, and Claude Arrieu of France. Cohen describes her as the first Italian woman to have her music acclaimed in Germany. She was awarded the title Caval

Giuliano Taviani

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Giuliano Taviani (born 1969) is an Italian composer. Life and career Born in Rome, Taviani is the son of the director and screenwriter Vittorio. He started studying jazz, singing, and guitar at the Scuola Popolare di Musica di Testaccio, under Giovanna Marini, and after a brief experience as a guitarist and a vocalist in the band Defaillance he enrolled at the Conservatory of L’Aquila where he graduated in composition. After composing some incidental music, he debuted as a film score composer in 1999, for Gianni Zanasi’s See You. A longtime collaborator of Francesco Munzi, in 2015 he won two David di Donatello for Best Score and Best Song for Munzi’s Black Souls. Selected filmography * See You (1999) * Now or Never (2003) * Saimir (2004) * The Lark Farm (2007) * Love, Soccer and Other Catastrophes (2008) * The Ladies Get Their Say (2009) * Generation 1000 Euros (2009) * Oggi sposi (2009) * The Woman of My Dreams (2010) * Unlikely Revolutionaries (2010) * One Day More (2011) * Escort in Love (2011) * Ex 2: Still Friends? (2011) * Viva l’Italia (2012) * Caesar Must Die (2012) * Stay Away from Me (2013) * Black Souls (2014) * Sapore di te (2014) * Wondrous Boccaccio (2015) * Torno ind

Giulio Aldinucci

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Giulio Aldinucci (born 1981 in Siena) is an Italian composer working primarily in the field of experimental electroacoustic music. His practice encompasses composition, soundscape composition, and the use of archival materials, investigating the relationship between past and present. Through field recording as both method and medium, Aldinucci problematizes the distinction between the “natural” - conceived as the contingent and unregulated sonority of environmental phenomena - and the “artificial,” understood as the product of technologically mediated processes of capture, transformation, and recontextualization. He has released albums on labels including Karlrecords (Germany), 99chants (Germany), Home Normal (UK/Japan), Time Released Sound (USA), Dronarivm (Netherlands) and Nomadic Kids Republic (UK/Japan). He has also published EPs and collaborative albums with artists such as Enrico Coniglio, The Star Pillow, Ian Hawgood, Francis M. Gri, Francesco Giannico, and Pleq. In addition to his solo and collaborative works, Aldinucci has created installations, performances and composed music for theatre, video art, experimental radio and cinema. His music has appeared in various compilat

Giulio Belli

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Giulio Belli (c. 1560 – 1621 or later) was an Italian composer of the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras. He was a prolific composer during the transitional time between the two musical eras, and worked in many cities in northern Italy. Life He was born in Longiano, near Forlì. He studied in Naples as a boy, but most of his career was spent in northern Italy. In 1582 he took a position as maestro di cappella at Imola cathedral. For the rest of his life he worked in a number of Italian cities in a similar capacity: in Carpi (1591), Venice, at Cà Grande (1594 or 1595), Montagnana (1595), Ferrara (1597), Osimo (1599), Ravenna (1600), Reggio (1603), Forlì (later in 1603–1606). In 1606 he briefly returned to his post at Cà Grande in Venice, but almost immediately quit and moved to Padua to become maestro di cappella at the church of S Antonio there. His succession of appointments continued: in 1610 he was maestro di cappella at Assisi; in 1611 he returned to Imola, where he stayed for two years; and he returned to Cà Grande again, in 1615. In 1621 he moved back to Imola to resume his position there yet again; records of his activities end at that point. While his rapid changes of e

Giulio Briccialdi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Giulio Briccialdi (1/2 March 1818 – 17 December 1881) was an Italian virtuoso flautist and composer, a technical innovator on his instrument and a professor of music. Briccialdi was born in Terni. He is commonly credited for inventing the B-flat (or “Briccialdi”) thumb key for the Boehm flute, but scholarship suggests that the innovation was Boehm’s first. He died in Florence. Biography Briccialdi was born in Terni, Italy, in the Papal States on 2 March 1818 and began studying flute with his father. After his father’s death, the 14-year-old Briccialdi moved to Rome to pursue a musical career and avoid family pressure to join the priesthood. His first appointment was to the Academia di Santa Cecilia in Rome at the age of 17. While in Rome he studied composition and, in 1835, began teaching flute at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia. He then moved to Naples, where he was the flute teacher for the royal family. Over the next couple of years he worked in Naples and Milan, and was flute teacher to the king’s brother. Then in 1841 he toured Europe and America, finally settling in London the following year. In London he became a director of the instrument making firm Rudall and Rose and was

Giulio Caccini

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Giulio Romolo Caccini (also Giulio Romano) (8 October 1551 – buried 10 December 1618) was an Italian composer, teacher, singer, instrumentalist and writer of the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras. He was one of the founders of the genre of opera, and one of the most influential creators of the new Baroque style. He was also the father of the composer Francesca Caccini and the singer Settimia Caccini. Life Little is known about his early life, but he is thought to have been born in Rome, the son of the carpenter Michelangelo Caccini; he was the older brother of the Florentine sculptor Giovanni Caccini. In Rome he studied the lute, the viol and the harp, and began to acquire a reputation as a singer. In the 1560s, Francesco de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, was so impressed with his talent that he took the young Caccini to Florence for further study. By 1579, Caccini was singing at the Medici court. He was a tenor, and he was able to accompany himself on the viol or the archlute; he sang at various entertainments, including weddings and affairs of state, and took part in the sumptuous intermedi of the time, the elaborate musical, dramatic, visual spectacles which were one of t

Giulio Castagnoli

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Giulio Castagnoli (born 22 November 1958) is an Italian composer. Life and career Giulio Castagnoli was born 22 November 1958 in Rome. Castagnoli, great-grandson of the Florentine composer and pianist Edgardo Del Valle de Paz, graduated in literature (Turin University), piano and composition (Turin Conservatory) before postgraduate degrees in composition at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg with Brian Ferneyhough (1986), and at Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome with Franco Donatoni (1987). He is currently professor of composition at the Turin Conservatory. Castagnoli collaborates with RAI-Radiotelevisione Italiana as a musicologist in programs on contemporary music, leads a concert series in Turin, and is the editor of the musical review “Quaderni di Musica Nuova”. He won several international composition contexts. His one act radio opera “To the Museum” (libretto by Ugo Nespolo) got a special mention of the Jury at 1991 Prix Italia. He was selected in many other events, like the World Music Days of the ISCM in Hong Kong in 1988. Luciano Berio conducted his music. Castagnoli has also received commissions from Radio France, RAI-Italian Radio, the City of Geneva, Stamford

Giulio Cesare Martinengo

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Giulio Cesare Martinengo (; – 10 July 1613) was an Italian composer and teacher of the late Renaissance and early Baroque Venetian School. He was the predecessor to Claudio Monteverdi at San Marco. He probably came from Verona, and was the son of composer Gabriele Martinengo. Accounts giving his birthdate are conflicting: one from his mother claims he was born in 1564, but a document from the “house of the Accoliti” in Verona gives his age in 1583 as 15. He studied with his father in Verona, and in the 1590s he served at Verona Cathedral as a singer as well as a priest. Martinengo is principally famous as the successor to Giovanni Croce, and predecessor to Claudio Monteverdi, to the post of maestro di cappella at San Marco in Venice, which was by far the most prestigious post in northern Italy. He was hired on 22 August 1609, at a pay of 200 ducats, after an audition, and on the recommendation of the Veronese. Martinengo’s tenure was a failure; he was sick most of the time, and the standards of the choir and instrumentalists slipped badly, according to contemporary accounts. In addition, the establishment took on considerable debt and became disorganized and demoralized. Martinengo

Giulio Confalonieri

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Giulio Confalonieri (23 May 1896 - 29 June 1972) was an Italian musician, musicologist, composer and musical critic. Born in Milan, Confalonieri graduated in letters at the and in piano at the Bologna Conservatory. Between 1919 and 1920 he composed his first opera, “Rosaspina”, which was eventually staged only in 1939. In 1921 he moved to Paris, where he became friends with Paul Dukas, and then to London, where he stayed until 1927 teaching piano, performing as a concert pianist, and composing incidental music. Returned to Italy, after a long period of isolation and study, in the late 1930s Confalonieri resumed his activity as a composer, and in 1940, he started collaborating with the magazine Settegiorni as a musical critic. In 1944 he lost the use of a leg because of an accident, and then focused on writing, collaborating with a large number of publications, notably Il Giorno, Oggi and Epoca. References External links

Giulio Fiesco

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Giulio Fiesco (possibly born ?1519, fl. 1550–1570) was an Italian composer of the Renaissance, active in Ferrara, known for his madrigals. He was the first composer to set the poetry of Giovanni Battista Guarini, the most often-set poet by madrigalists of the late 16th century, and was an important court composer for the rich musical establishment of the Este family in Ferrara. Life Details of Fiesco’s life are sketchy. He was probably born in Ferrara and seems to have spent most of his life there. François-Joseph Fétis, the 19th-century French musicologist, claimed dates of 1519 to 1586 for Fiesco, but as he did not give his sources, it is not known if he had access to some documentation no longer extant. Alfred Einstein also reports these dates in The Italian Madrigal, with the additional detail that Fiesco was likely a lutenist. Fiesco was connected to the Estense court as indicated by the dedications in his madrigal collections, and may have been employed at the church of San Francesco, since he is buried there. It is also possible that he was employed personally by Cardinal Ippolito II d’Este. In 1567 the poet Giovanni Battista Guarini entered into the service of Alfonso II d'

Giuseppe Antonio Brescianello

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Giuseppe Antonio Brescianello (also Bressonelli; ca. 1690, Bologna, Papal States – 4 October 1758, Stuttgart, Duchy of Württemberg) was an Italian Baroque composer and violinist. Brescianello’s name is mentioned for the first time in a document from 1715 in which Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria conferred on him an appointment as violinist in the court orchestra in Munich. Soon after, in 1716, following the death of Johann Christoph Pez, he was given a post at the court in Stuttgart of Eberhard Ludwig, Duke of Württemberg, as director of music and maître des concerts de la chambre. In 1717, he was appointed Hofkapellmeister. Around 1718, he composed the pastorale opera La Tisbe, which he dedicated to the Archduke in the vain hope that it would be programmed at the Stuttgart theatre. Between 1719 and 1721, Brescianello came into conflict with the composer Reinhard Keiser, who launched repeated attempts to seize his post. He held out and in 1731 was even granted the more senior title of Oberkapellmeister. He temporarily lost the post in 1737, when the court opera was disbanded due to financial troubles. In the following years, he concentrated on composition and produced his

Giuseppe Baini

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Abbate Giuseppe Baini (21 October 1775 – 21 May 1844) was an Italian priest, music critic, conductor, and composer of church music. He was born in Rome. He was instructed in composition by his uncle, Lorenzo Baini, and afterwards by G. Jannaconi. In 1814, he was appointed musical director to the choir of the pontifical chapel, to which he had as early as 1802 gained admission because of his fine bass voice, which was said to be powerful, extending from low E♭ to high G. His compositions, of which very few were published, were considered favourable specimens of the severe ecclesiastical style; a ten-part Miserere of his, composed for Holy Week in 1821 by order of Pope Pius VII, has taken a permanent place in the services of the Sistine Chapel during Passion Week. Baini held a higher place, however, as a musical critic and historian than as a composer, and his Life of Palestrina (Memorie storico-critiche della vita e delle opere di Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, 1828) was described by the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica as being “one of the best works of its class”. The phrase Il Principe della Musica, which has become firmly associated with the name of Palestrina, is found in the af

Giuseppe Balducci (composer)

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Giuseppe Balducci (2 May 1796 – 1845) was an Italian composer, primarily of operas. Born in Iesi, he spent most of his career in Naples and was one of the originators of the “salon opera” genre, the forerunner of chamber opera. Life and career Balducci was born in Iesi to a once-prosperous family in the city. He was a distant cousin of the composer Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (their grandfathers were brothers). Balducci’s father, a successful businessman, was kidnapped and killed on one of his travels shortly before Balducci was born. A business partner fraudulently took possession of most of his father’s wealth leaving Balducci’s mother and children in very straitened circumstances. Balducci studied music under the castrato singer Giovanni Ripa in Iesi and the composer in nearby Senigallia. By the age of 17 Balducci had formed his own opera troupe in which he also sang as the lead tenor. However, a year later he was forced to flee his native city after killing the nephew of the Papal Governor in a duel. On his arrival in Naples, he found employment as the music master to the three young daughters of Raimondo Capece Minutolo (1769–1827), a retired field marshal and member of an anc

Giuseppe Becce

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Giuseppe Becce (3 February 1877 – 5 October 1973) was an Italian-born film score composer who enriched the German cinema. Biography Becce was born in Lonigo, province of Vicenza, Italy. He showed his musical talents early and was named the director of the student musical orchestra at the Pollini Conservatoire in Padua where he studied ‘cello and flute, along with geography and philology. In 1906 he moved to Germany and studied musical composition with Arthur Nikisch and Ferruccio Busoni in Berlin. In the 1913 silent movie Richard Wagner, directed by Carl Froelich, Becce played the title role and wrote the accompanying music (see also List of films about Richard Wagner.) He continued to write such music for a series of subsequent movies. A collection of these pieces, the so-called “Kinothek” was published between 1919 and 1933 by the Verlag Schlesinger’sche Buchhandlung in Berlin. From 1915 to 1923, Becce was the director of the little orchestra of the Berlin Mozartsaal cinema, located upstairs at the Neues Schauspielhaus in the Nollendorfplatz. After World War I, he was named to direct the music department of the Decla-Bioscop AG and chief director of its movie orchestra, later to

Giuseppe Bellenghi

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Giuseppe Bellenghi (1847 in Bologna – 17 October 1902 in Florence) was a virtuoso violoncellist and mandolinist, and composer. He was remembered in 1914 as “a devoted champion of the mandolin.” Bellinghi studied violoncello under “several well-known Italian masters,” including Teodulo and Jefte Sbolci. He gained a reputation as a cello virtuoso in Florence, and worked in important concerts in Bologna and Florence, and as first violoncellist in the theatres. He began to write for the mandolin, creating “light selections.” He first published with Ricordi in Milan, but later founded Forlivesi & Company Publishing in Florence, which was a major music publisher when he died in 1902, publishing more than 7000 musical compositions. Bellenghi’s own compositions were very numerous, and he published many lighter works under the name of G. B. Pirani. He wrote the comprehensive Method for the mandolin in three parts, which is published in four languages, French, English, Italian and German. He also wrote a series of daily exercises for the mandolin, entitled La ginnastica del mandolino, with the object of strengthening the fourth finger, and a volume of Ascending and descending major and minor

Giuseppe Bertini (composer)

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Giuseppe Bertini (January 20, 1759 – March 15, 1852) was an Italian composer, choral conductor, lexicographer, scholar, and Roman Catholic priest. References

Giuseppe Bonno

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Giuseppe Bonno (29 January 1711 – 15 April 1788) was an Austrian composer of Italian origin. (His name is sometimes given as Josef or Josephus Johannes Baptizta Bon.) The son of a footman from Brescia who served at the Austrian court, he was born in Vienna and studied music with Johann Georg Reinhardt, imperial court organist, later Kapellmeister of St Stephen’s. A gifted pupil, he was then sent to Naples in 1726 where he studied church music under Francesco Durante and opera under Leonardo Leo. He moved back to Vienna in 1736, becoming a court composer there, and working as Kapellmeister to the Prince of Saxe-Hildburghausen in the 1750s and 1760s. In 1774, Bonno was made Imperial court conductor to Joseph II, following the death of Florian Leopold Gassman. He died in Vienna. While Bonno’s music is rarely heard today, he was a prominent figure in the Viennese musical life of his time and his works were often performed. He worked with two main librettists: Giovanni Claudio Pasquini and Metastasio. The latter was Bonno’s contemporary in Vienna, and the composer wrote the first music for Metastasio’s Il natale di Giove (also set by Hasse), Il vero omaggio, Il re pastore (later set by

Giuseppe Branzoli

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Giuseppe Branzoli (1835 in Cento – 21 January 1909, in Rome) was a violinist, mandolinist, composer, author, educator at the Liceo Musicale di St. Cecilia in Rome, and the founder of the periodical IL mandolin Romano. His compositions were for violin, mandolin, flute and cello, as well as church music. He taught at Cento and Bologna and played first violin at the Theatre of Apollo Orchestra in Rome. Also played in the Theatre of Massimo in Rome. After his son died and he used music as a way to “stifle and conquer his grief”. He taught as a professor of stringed instruments at the college level and worked as a conductor of the Philharmonic Society. He also helped found the Liceo Musicale di St. Cecilia in Rome and taught as a professor of harmony there and worked as a librarian. Compositions He composed for the mandolin band. He also did operas, Torquato Tasso and Sorrento which were successful. Wrote an elegy for orchestra, A tear over the tome of Meyerbeer. *Une Larme sur la tombe de Gaetano Donizdth. Elegie pour violon avec accompagnement de piano par Giuseppe Branzole. Op. 51 (A Tear at the tomb of Gaetano Donizdth. Elegie for violin with piano accompaniment by Giuseppe Branzole

Giuseppe Buonamici

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Giuseppe Buonamici (19 February 1846 – 18 March 1914) was an Italian composer, pianist and musicologist. Life Grandson of the opera singer Ferdinando Ceccherini, Buonamici was born in Florence. He started very early his musical studies, and already at the age of 14 was an appreciated pianist, known by the stage name “Niccolini”. and in 1893 he was appointed by royal decree professor of piano at the musical institute of the city. He continued to give occasional concerts in Italy, Germany and England, where he performed for the Queen Victoria and had the privilege of being appointed honorary member of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. References External links * *

Giuseppe Cambini

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Giuseppe Maria Gioacchino Cambini (Montelupo Fiorentino, 8 april 1746Netherlands? 1810s? or Paris? 1825?) was an Italian composer and violinist. Life Unconfirmed information Information about his life is scarcely traceable. Louis-Gabriel Michaud, French scholar and François-Joseph Fétis, Belgian musicologist, drafted his biography, and Cambini himself speaks about his past in an article published in Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung in 1804. However, all of these documents are full of errors and, therefore, need to be verified. It is not possible to confirm his personal data (only Fétis indicates his date of birth and, more possibly to Filippo Manfredi, who was almost certainly his violin teacher. Fétis wrote about his unfortunate operatic debut in Naples in 1766, after which, during his return to Livorno by the sea, Cambini was kidnapped by pirates, who treated him terribly until his liberation by a Venetian aristocrat. a fact that reduces its reliability. this quartet would represent the first formation of this emerging genre in Italy, if not in all of Europe. For many years, this information fostered a gigantic legend about the importance of the role of Cambini in defining the str

Giuseppe Ceccherini

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Giuseppe Ceccherini (24 November 1829 – 2 November 1899) was an Italian composer and singing teacher. He was born in Florence, the son of Ferdinando Ceccherini (1792–1858), a noted tenor, composer, and the maestro di cappella of Florence’s principal cathedral, Santa Maria del Fiore. Like his father, Ceccherini served as the maestro di cappella of Santa Maria del Fiore for which he composed numerous pieces of sacred music. His compositions, long forgotten, were found in the cathedral’s archives, transcribed by the musicologist Gabriele Giacomelli and performed in a concert at the Cathedral in June 2004. Their style reflect his passion for Italian opera and sometimes had musical quotations from operatic scores such as his Verbum caro which contains melodies from Bellini’s opera Norma. For many years, Ceccherini was the professor of singing at the Regio Istituto Musicale di Firenze (now known as the Conservatorio Luigi Cherubini) where his pupils included the sopranos Ida Isori, Zaira Zelli and Abigaille Bruschi-Chiatti. He also taught music and singing at the Istituto della Santissima Annunziata and the Conservatorio delle Mantellate in Florence. Ceccherini died in Florence at the ag

Giuseppe Concone

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Giuseppe Concone (September 12, 1801 - June 1, 1861 Turin) was an Italian voice teacher and composer. Life and career Giuseppe Concone was born in Turin, Italy on September 12, 1801. He had a brief career as singer before devoting himself almost entirely to working as a voice teacher; beginning that work in Turin. He composed the opera Un episodio del San Michele which premiered in Turin on 8 June 1836. He composed a second opera, Graziella, which was never performed. While in Paris he wrote three ‘oratorios.’ One commentator (named Smither) wrote: “These are quite brief, and include no orchestra but only piano accompaniment. They are evidently intended for performance in a private soiree rather than a theatre. No performance of any of the three is known.” Concone returned to Italy in 1848, probably due to events resulting from the Revolutions of 1848. He was appointed both organist and maestro di cappella of the Sardinian court in Turn; a position he remained in until his death in Turin on September 12, 1861. Concone also composed some etudes for piano in 25 Melodic Studies, Op. 24., and concert arias and duets. List of works by Concone * Fifteen Vocalises for Soprano * Twenty-Fiv

Giuseppe Corsi

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Giuseppe Corsi Evangelisti (Vangelisti) (1631/1632 in County of Celano – after 10 March 1691 in Ancona or Modena) better known as Gioseppe Corso Celani or Giuseppe Corsi da Celano, was an Italian composer of the Baroque era. He was mainly active at Rome, where he was Maestro di cappella. He was the teacher of Giacomo Antonio Perti and Petronio Franceschini. Biography A student in Rome at the Jesuit fathers under the guidance of Giacomo Carissimi, he was active as an outstanding Maestro in Gallese (Altemps family), Città di Castello (Cattedrale di S. Florido), Naples (Montalto family), Rome (Basilica di S. Maria Maggiore, Basilica di S. Giovanni in Laterano, Chiesa di S. Maria Maddalena, Chiesa Nuova), Loreto (Basilica della S. Casa: where he was ordained priest), Ancona (Cattedrale di S. Ciriaco) and Parma (Basilica di S. Maria della Steccata and Farnese family). he was tortured and imprisoned in Rome for a few years on the orders of Pope Innocent XI in the Albornoz fortress of Narni. cataloged by Giovanni Tribuzio in 2014, are 83: * TriCo 1-3 (Masses); * TriCo 4-12 (Parts of mass); * TriCo 13 (Canticles); * TriCo 14-20 (Psalms); * TriCo 21-23 (Antiphons); * TriCo 24 (Hymns); * Tri

Giuseppe Creatore

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Giuseppe Creatore (), called the Great Creatore, was an Italian bandmaster in Italy and the United States. He was born in Naples, Italy, on June 21, 1871, and died in New York City on August 15, 1952. Creatore’s fame rivaled that of John Philip Sousa, and he was known for performances that were engaging for both their showmanship and musicianship. The music critic of the Kansas City Journal provides a colorful description of Creatore’s stage presence: “Creatore starts the band in a mild, entreating way. A simple uplifting of the arms. Then suddenly, with a wild shake of his shaggy head, he springs across the stage with the ferocity of a wounded lion. Crash! Bang! And a grand volume of sound chocks the hall from pit to dome.” Career Creatore studied trombone and conducting with Nicola D’Arienzo and Camillo de Nardis at the Conservatorio di San Pietro a Majella. In 1887, at the young age of 17, he accepted a position to direct the Naples Military Band. but also for Edison Records, Paramount Records, and Columbia Records. In 1931, he conducted a series of open air concerts for a symphony orchestra, and in 1937 conducted the New York State Symphonic Band and the New York Symphonic Orch

Giuseppe Di Bianco

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Giuseppe Di Bianco (born 17 October 1969) is an Italian composer, conductor, arranger, mainly of choral music. Biography Education Giuseppe Di Bianco holds degrees in Piano, Composition, Choral conducting and Music Didactics from the Conservatories of Salerno and San Pietro a Majella of Naples, graduating Summa cum Laude and Honorable Mention in Foreign Languages and Modern Literature. Enrico Buondonno, direct heir of the didactic tradition of Licinio Refice, Raffaele Casimiri, Achille Longo, started him to study the composition. His training also includes advanced courses and workshops at Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena and Scuola di Musica of Fiesole (Florence) with Giacomo Manzoni, Salvatore Sciarrino, Louis Andriessen, Peter Maxwell Davies, Luis de Pablo; analysis seminars with Jean - Jacques Nattiez, Janet Schmalfeldt (Tufts University, MA). Artistic activity Active as a pianist, teacher, and composer, with the main interest in choral composition, published by Feniarco Ed. (IT), Federcoritrentino e «Композитор • Санкт-Петербург» Publishing House and performed in Italy, the Vatican City, Europe, Russia, Japan, the Philippines, he has received numerous awards in composition

Giuseppe Ferdinando Brivio

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Giuseppe Ferdinando Brivio (c. 1700, Milan – c. 1758, Milan) was an Italian composer, conductor, violinist, and singing teacher who is chiefly known for his operas. His work displays a natural expression and uses figurations similar to that of Antonio Vivaldi. At the Teatro Ducale his first known opera, Ipermestra, premiered on 6 December 1727. Two of his notable pupils were sopranos Giulia Frasi and Caterina Visconti. Brivio went on to write five more operas: L’Olimpiade (premiere 5 March 1737, Teatro Regio di Torino), Artaserse (premiere 2 June 1738, Teatro degli Obizzi di Padova), Merope (premiere 26 December 1738, Teatro Ducale di Milano), La Germania trionfante in Arminio (premiere 2 May 1739, Teatro Ducale di Milano) and Alessandro nell’Indie (premiere carnival 1742, Teatro Ducale di Milano). His music was also used in three Pasticcio mounted at the King’s Theatre, Haymarket, London during the 1740s, Gianguir (premiere 2 November 1742), Mandane (premiere 12 December 1742), and L’incostanza delusa (premiere 9 February 1745). The final stage work to use his music was another pasticcio, L’Olimpiade, which premiered at the Teatro Marsigli-Rossi di Bologna on 10 May 1755. Besides

Giuseppe Ferrata

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Giuseppe Ferrata (1865–1928) was an Italian-American pianist, composer, and university professor. He was a student of Giovanni Sgambati and Franz Liszt at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (English: National Academy of Saint Cecilia) in Rome, Italy. Ferrata was knighted by the Royal Court of Portugal, the Royal Court of Belgium, and the King of Italy. Ferrata composed for two different audiences. Some of his works were composed for their popular appeal. Other compositions were intended to advance orchestral music as a musical art form, for audiences that were musicians, other composers, and people with deep appreciation of orchestral music. Ferrata was also an inventor, having obtained three United States Patents. Early life and education Ferrata was born in Gradoli, Italy, to a family of small landowners. Ferrata played the clarinet. Later in his childhood, he served as assistant conductor for the local municipal band. Ferrata initially studied piano with Giovanni Sgambati and musical composition with Antonio Terziani at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and then later while still at the academy with Franz Liszt. Ferrata had auditioned for Liszt who then invited Ferr

Giuseppe Gazzaniga

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Giuseppe Gazzaniga (5 October 1743 – 1 February 1818) was a member of the Neapolitan school of opera composers. He composed fifty-one operas, particularly opera buffa. Biography Born in Verona, Gazzaniga was initially intended for the priesthood at the urging of his devout parents. He eventually convinced his father to allow him to pursue a career in music and began studies first in Venice and then at the Conservatorio di Sant’Onofrio a Porta Capuana in Naples. While there, he was a pupil of Niccolò Piccinni and Nicola Porpora. Gazzaniga presented his first opera, Il barone di Trocchia, at the Teatro di San Carlo in 1768. He would spend the next several decades writing mostly operas in Italy with the exception of a few trips to Dresden, Vienna, and Prague. His most successful opera was his Don Giovanni Tenorio written in 1787 to a libretto by Giovanni Bertati, possibly an inspiration for the libretto of Mozart’s Don Giovanni. His last opera, Martino Carbonaro, was performed at the Teatro San Moisè in Venice in 1801. He also wrote a symphony and three piano concertos. In 1791, he became musical director of Crema Cathedral in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, where he composed n

Giuseppe Gherardeschi

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Giuseppe Gherardeschi (3 November 1759 - 6 August 1815) was an Italian organist and composer. He was born and died in Pistoia. He began to study music with his father Domenico, who was the maestro di cappella at Pistoia Cathedral, and his uncle Filippo Maria Gherardeschi. He continued his studies with Nicola Sala in Naples at the Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini. On returning to his home city he was appointed organist at the Church of Santa Maria dell’Umiltà and later succeeded his father as director of music at Pistoia Cathedral. As a composer he wrote vocal music (sacred and secular) as well as instrumental music (solo, chamber and orchestral). Works Vocal music Secular Music *Daliso e Delmita (opera, 1782) *Angelica e Medoro (cantata, 1783) *L’apparenza inganna (opera, 1784) *L’ombra di Catilina (cantata, 1789) *L’impazienza (cantata, 1798) *La speranza coronata (cantata, 1804–1809) *Other arias, duest and choral works Sacred Music *Il sacrificio di Jeft (oratorio, 1803) *30 Masses *37 Lamentations *90 Motets *5 Te Deum *Altri lavori sacri minori Instrumental Music *6 sonatas for harpsichord or fortepiano and violin obbligato *Several concertoni *Quintet for wind instrumen

Giuseppe Lillo

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Giuseppe Lillo (26 February 1814 - 4 February 1863) was an Italian composer. He is best known for his operas which followed in the same vein of Gioachino Rossini. He also produced works for solo piano, a small amount of sacred music, and some chamber music. Life and career Born in Galatina in the Province of Lecce, Lillo was the son of conductor Giosuè Lillo. He received his earliest musical training from his father before entering the Naples Conservatory where he studied harmony and counterpoint with Giovanni Furno, piano with Francesco Lanza, and composition with Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli. His first composition, a mass for four voices and orchestra, premiered to a warm reception in 1834. As a composer Lillo primarily composed music for the stage. His first opera, La moglie per 24 ore, ossia L’ammalato di buona salute, premiered successfully at the Real Collegio di Musica during Carnival of 1834. He quickly gained a great deal of popularity with the Naples public with opera serias like Il gioiello (1835), Odda di Bernaver (1837), and Il conte di Chalais (1839). The pinnacle of his success came with his only opera comica, L’osteria di Andujar, which premiered in Fondo on 30 Septem

Giuseppe Maria Orlandini

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Giuseppe Maria Orlandini (4 April 167624 October 1760) was an Italian baroque composer particularly known for his more than 40 operas and intermezzos. Highly regarded by music historians of his day like Francesco Saverio Quadrio, Jean-Benjamin de La Borde and Charles Burney, Orlandini, along with Vivaldi, is considered one of the major creators of the new style of opera that dominated the second decade of the 18th century. Life Born in Florence, Orlandini began working as an opera composer in his late twenties for Prince Ferdinando de’ Medici. His first opera, Artaserse, premiered in Livorno in 1706. A moderate success, the work was revived in Naples in 1708. Beginning in 1711, he was the maestro di cappella to Prince Gian Gastone (later the Duke of Tuscany). In 1717 he moved to Bologna, where he met and married opera singer Maria Maddalena Buonavia. He continued to live and work in that city for the next fifteen years. Orlandini’s first major critical success was the opera Antigona which premiered in Venice during carnival of 1718. The work was highly popular and enjoyed performances throughout Europe. In 1719 he became a member of the Accademia Filarmonica. That same year his int

Giuseppe Martucci

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Giuseppe Martucci (; 6 January 1856, in Capua – 1 June 1909, in Naples) was an Italian composer, conductor, pianist and teacher. Sometimes called “the Italian Brahms”, Martucci was notable among Italian composers of the era in that he dedicated his entire career to absolute music, and wrote no operas. As a composer and teacher he was influential in reviving Italian interest in non-operatic music. Nevertheless, as a conductor, he did help to introduce Wagner’s operas to Italy and also gave important early concerts of British music there. Career Martucci was born at Capua, in Campania. He learned the basics of music from his father, Gaetano, who played the trumpet. A child prodigy, he played in public on the piano when only eight years old. From the age of 11, he was a student at the Naples Conservatory, on the recommendation of professor Beniamino Cesi, the latter being a former student of Sigismond Thalberg. From Paolo Serrao, Martucci acquired his initial training in composition; his own composition students later on, when he worked and taught at Bologna, included Ottorino Respighi. He died in Naples in 1909. His son Paolo, born in Naples in 1883, also became a pianist of note, br

Giuseppe Mulè

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Giuseppe Mulè (28 June 1885, Termini Imerese - 10 September 1951, Rome) was an Italian composer and conductor. His output includes numerous symphonic works and chamber works, incidental music for the stage, 7 operas, 5 film scores, and an oratorio. His work is characterized by its use of Italian folk melodies, verismo, and a tritone-inflected melodic style. Life and career Mulè studied at the Vincenzo Bellini Conservatory in Palermo. In 1903, even before completing his academic studies, he composed a Largo for cello and piano that was used as an opening song in national radio broadcasts in Italy for RAI. After graduating from the conservatory he pursued a career as a conductor in Italy, working with many of that nation’s leading orchestras. He became the director of the Palermo Conservatory in 1922. He left there in 1925 to become the director of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, a post he held for 20 years. During the fascist era he was recognized for his talent for organization. He was made national secretary of the Sindicato del Musicisti, which he represented in parliament alongside composer Adriano Lualdi from 1929 on. He retired in 1945 and lived in Rome until his dea

Giuseppe Nicolini (composer)

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Giuseppe Nicolini (or Niccolini; 29 January 1762 – 18 December 1842) was an Italian composer who wrote at least 45 operas. From 1819 onwards, he devoted himself primarily to religious music. He was born and died at Piacenza. The music conservatory of Piacenza is named after him. Operas Nicolini’s operas include: *La famiglia stravagante (dramma giocoso, 1793, Parma) *La clemenza di Tito (opera seria, libretto by Pietro Metastasio, 1797, Livorno) *I due fratelli ridicoli (Li fratelli ridicoli) (dramma giocoso, libretto by Filippo Livigni, 1798, Rome) *Il trionfo del bel sesso (dramma giocoso, libretto by Giovanni Bertati, 1799) *I baccanali di Roma (1801, Milan) *Il geloso innamorato (farsa, libretto by Giambattista Lorenzi, 1804, Naples) * (opera seria, libretto by Michelangelo Prunetti, 1807, Rome) *Le due gemelle (farsa, 1808, Rome) *Coriolano ossia L’assedio di Roma (opera seria, libretto by Luigi Romanelli, 1808, Milan) *Angelica e Medoro ossia L’Orlando (opera seria, libretto by Gaetano Sertor from Pietro Metastasio, 1810, Turin) *Abradate e Dircea (opera seria, libretto by Luigi Romanelli, 1811, Milan) *Quinto Fabio (Quinto Fabio Rutililiano) (opera seria, libretto by Giusepp

Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni

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Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni (Rieti, 18 March 1657 – Rome, Papal States, 1 February 1743) was an Italian organist and composer. He became one of the leading musicians in Rome during the late Baroque era, the first half of the 18th century. Life Born in Rieti, his family moved to Rome when he was an infant. He began vocal study with Pompeo Natali at the age of five and sang in the choir of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini from age eight. At Santi Apostoli he sang and studied counterpoint with Francesco Foggia, where his early compositions were performed. By age sixteen he was maestro di cappella at Santa Maria Maggiore, Monterotondo, a historic church near Rome. In 1673 as maestro for the cathedral at Assisi he began intensive study of the works of Palestrina, and in 1676 moved to the cathedral at Rieti. In 1677 he returned to Rome for a lifelong appointment as maestro di cappella at the Basilica of San Marco. In addition he held a series of prestigious positions as maestro for Basilica dei Santi Apostoli, Rome (from 1686), at St. John Lateran (from 1708, where Palestrina had served from 1555 to 1560), and for the Cappella Giulia at St. Peter’s (from 1719, immediately following Domenico Scarl

Giuseppe Paolucci

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Giuseppe Paoloucci (May 25, 1726 – April 24, 1776) was an Italian composer, conductor and organist of Baroque music. Life and work Giuseppe Paolucci was the only son of Domenico di Giuseppe and Anna Maria di Stefano Lucatelli. From 1729 to 1741 he was registered with his father and his second wife Francesca Soldi as a member of the Sienese parish of San Pietro a Ovile. He was educated in the convent of the monastery of San Francesco in Prato and in the monastery of Santa Croce in Florence and was a member of the Franciscan order. From March 1750 he studied counterpoint at the Convent of San Francesco in Bologna with Padre Giambattista Martini and then in 1756 became Maestro di Capella of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari in Venice. He left Venice in August 1769 and in 1770 took over the work of conductor and organist at the church of San Martino in Senigallia attached to the monastery. From February 1772 until his death he was capellmeister at the Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi. Paolucci conducted an extensive correspondence of around 150 letters (archived in the Museo della Musica, Bologna) with Padre Martini on musical and other artistic subjects. The catalog of handwritten wor

Giuseppe Persiani

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Giuseppe Persiani (11 September 1799 – 13 August 1869) was an Italian opera composer. Persiani was born in Recanati. He wrote his first opera - one of 11 - in 1826 but, after his marriage to the soprano Fanny Tacchinardi Persiani, who was to become a significant singer in her time, he devoted much of his efforts to supporting her career. He worked in a variety of opera genres including opera buffa and wrote an oratorio named Abigaille and featuring the same character as in the popular Verdi opera, Nabucco. He was noted for his ability to effectively combine music and drama as well as florid decoration. His best-known opera, Inês de Castro, from a libretto by Salvadore Cammarano (who also wrote the libretto for Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor the same year), was created in 1835 for the celebrated soprano Maria Malibran, who sang the role of the 14th-century Portuguese queen of the same name. The opera was first presented at La Scala in January 1837 but by that time, Malibran had died. After some revisions to tailor the role for his wife, the opera was presented in Paris in 1839. While it was given about 60 productions over a period of 16 years, after 1851 it was rarely, if ever, pre

Giuseppe Pietri

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Giuseppe Pietri (Sant’Ilario, frazione of Marina di Campo, comune of Campo nell’Elba, 6 May 1886 – Milan, 11 August 1946) was an Italian composer, known primarily for his work in operetta. Excerpts from one of his works, the opera Maristella, were widely recorded and continue to be so on CD. The aria “Io conosco un giardino” from that work has been popular with tenors, and has been frequently recorded separately; among the singers to record it are Luciano Pavarotti, Beniamino Gigli, Joseph Calleja and more recently, Rolando Villazón. Pietri studied composition at the Milan Conservatory with Gaetano Coronaro. He studied harmony and counterpoint with Amintore Galli. He composed operas in versistical tradition, but it was his operettas that made him a popular success. He developed an independent Italian idiom for the operetta. The most famous was L’acqua cheta, which premiered in Rome in 1920. The text was from a 1908 Tuscan dialect piece by Augusto Novelli, a romantic comedy in the Florentine petty bourgeois style. Rompicollo was premiered in 1928 in Milan, and was translated into German as Das große Rennen (“The Big Race”). Works Operas * Calendimaggio, libretto by Pietro Gori, Flor

Giuseppe Puzone

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Giuseppe Puzone (12 February 1820 – 17 October 1914) was an Italian opera composer and conductor active in Naples, the city of his birth. He was for many years the principal conductor of the Teatro San Carlo where his opera Elfrida di Salerno had premiered in 1849. He composed three other operas, all of which premiered in Naples, as well as sacred and symphonic music. Life and career Puzone was born in Naples, the son of Raffaele and Maria (née Aveta) Puzone. He began his music studies at the age of 11 as an external student at the Conservatory of San Pietro a Majella where he initially studied singing under Niccolò Zingarelli. However, in order to be admitted to the conservatory as a scholarship student, he was required to master an instrument as well. He took up the oboe and became sufficiently proficient within 18 months to win a scholarship for full-time study. After further study under Ferrazzano and Rossi, he was admitted to the conservatory’s orchestra as second oboe, rapidly progressed to first oboe, and was then made a junior conductor. He went on to study piano under Francesco Lanza and composition and orchestration under Zingarelli, Donizetti, and Mercadante. Puzone made

Giuseppe Sammartini

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Giuseppe Francesco Gaspare Melchiorre Baldassare Sammartini (also Gioseffo, S Martini, St Martini, San Martini, San Martino, Martini, Martino; 6 January 1695 – between 17 and 23 November 1750) was an Italian composer and oboist during the late Baroque and early Classical era. Although he was from Milan, most of his professional life was spent in London and with Frederick, the Prince of Wales. He also had a younger brother, Giovanni Battista Sammartini, who likewise became a renowned composer. Personal life Giuseppe Sammartini was born in Milan, Italy. Giuseppe took oboe lessons from his French father Alexis Saint-Martin. Although born in Milan, Giuseppe found his success in other parts of Europe. His first trip was to Brussels, and from there he made his way to London where he would go on to spend the rest of his life. Giuseppe did return to Milan for his sister Madalena’s marriage on 13 February 1728. In July 1728 Giuseppe also travelled to Brussels with his pupil Gaetano Parenti. Performer Sammartini was an exceptionally skilled oboist. He could play the flute and recorder, as was customary at the time. Before moving to London, he was the oboist at in Milan around 1717. He then b

Giuseppe Santarelli

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Giuseppe Santarelli (1710–1790) was an Italian castrato, composer, choir conductor, voice teacher, and Roman Catholic priest. He was named a knight of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Life and career Born in Forlì, he entered a monastery in the Order of Saint Augustine at a young age where he was eventually ordained. The exact details of his musical training are unknown, although it is clear he must have been thoroughly trained in music composition, music theory, and in singing. He was active on the opera stage in Venice during the 1740s. In 1749 he became a singer in the Sistine Chapel Choir in Vatican City, ultimately being appointed conductor in 1770. He was also for many years the cantor at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. In 1761 he published an essay on the organisation of the Sistine Chapel Choir, under the title: Informazione del Cantor Fra’ Giuseppe Santarelli Cappellano d’onore dell’Eminentissimo e Reverendissimo Signor Cardinale Alessandro Albani come Ministro Plenipotenziario delle Loro MM. Imp. e Reali presso la S. Sede. In risposta ad un Biglietto di esso Eminentissimo (Roma, Komarek). As a teacher of singing his notable pupils included Muzio Clementi and V

Giuseppe Scarlatti

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Giuseppe Scarlatti (1718 or 18 June 1723, Naples – 17 August 1777, Vienna) was a composer of opere serie and opere buffe. He worked in Rome from 1739 to 1741, and from 1752 to 1754 in Florence, Pisa, Lucca and Turin. From 1752 to 1754, and again from 1756 to 1759, he worked in Venice and for short periods in Milan and Barcelona. In 1760 he moved to Vienna, where he enjoyed the friendship of Christoph Willibald Gluck. “The third most important musician of his clan”, it is still uncertain whether he was born on 18 June 1723 (to Tommaso Scarlatti, c.1669-1760) as the nephew of Alessandro or in 1718 as nephew of Domenico. Giuseppe Scarlatti was married to the Viennese singer Barbara Stabili who died about 1753. By 1767 he had married Antonia Lefebvre, who that year bore him a son; she died three years later. Scarlatti died intestate in 1777 in Vienna. Works Operas Dubious attributions *La madamigella (libretto by Antonio Palomba, 1755, Naples) *Il mercato di Malmantide (dramma giocoso per musica, libretto by Carlo Goldoni, 1758, Venice) Other works *La Santissima Vergine annunziata (oratorio, 1739, Rome) *Componimento per musica (serenata, 1739, Rome) *L’amor della patria (serenata, li

Giuseppe Tartini

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Giuseppe Tartini (8 April 1692 – 26 February 1770) was an Italian composer and violinist of the Baroque era born in Pirano in the Republic of Venice (now Piran, Slovenia). Tartini was a prolific composer, composing over a hundred pieces for the violin, the majority of them violin concertos. He is best remembered for his Violin Sonata in G Minor (the Devil’s Trill Sonata). Early life Tartini was born on 8 April 1692 in Pirano (today Piran in Slovenia), a town on the peninsula of Istria, in the Republic of Venice to Gianantonio – native of Florence – and Caterina Zangrando, a descendant of one of the oldest aristocratic Piranese families. It appears Tartini’s parents intended him to become a Franciscan friar and, in this way, he received basic musical training. Tartini studied violin first at the collegio delle Scuole Pie in Capodistria (today Koper). Tartini’s skill improved tremendously and, in 1721, he was appointed Maestro di Cappella at the Basilica di Sant’Antonio in Padua, with a contract that allowed him to play for other institutions if he wished. In Padua, he met and befriended fellow composer and theorist Francesco Antonio Vallotti. Between 1723 and 1725 he was in Prague,

Giuseppe Torelli

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Giuseppe Torelli (22 April 1658 Verona – 8 February 1709) was an Italian violinist, teacher and composer of the middle Baroque era. Brother of the painter Felice Torelli, he is most remembered for contributing to the development of the concerto, especially the solo concerto, and for his music for string instruments and trumpet. Life Torelli was born in Verona. It is not known with whom he studied violin, although it has been speculated that he was a pupil of Leonardo Brugnoli or Bartolomeo Laurenti, but it is certain that he studied composition with Giacomo Antonio Perti. On 27 June 1684, at the age of 26, he became a member of the Accademia Filarmonica as suonatore di violino. He was employed as a viola player at the San Petronio basilica beginning in 1686, where he stayed until 1695 or January 1696, when the orchestra was discontinued because of financial constraints. In 1687 Giuseppe Corsi da Celano played Torelli’s music, from Op. 3, in Parma at the Sanctuary of Santa Maria della Steccata. By 1698 Torelli was maestro di concerto at the court of Georg Friedrich II, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, where he conducted the orchestra for Le pazzie d’amore e dell’interesse, an idea d

Giuseppe Truda

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Giuseppe Antonio Truda (5 July 1869 – January 1904) was an Italian-born Australian composer. He trained as a musician since childhood, and he started his professional career in London at the age of 15. At the age of 16, he was selected by an Australian impresario to join an Italian Opera company touring Australia. He returned to Australia in 1888 for professional reasons, and continued working there until 1891. Following a few years of absence, he returned to Brisbane in 1894. In 1897, he staged the first of his own annual concerts at the Centennial Hall. The Commonwealth of Australia was formed on 1 January 1901, and Truda quickly applied for citizenship. He was listed in the Australian Electoral Roll in 1901. Biography Early life and education (1869–1888) Truda was born on 5 July 1869 in Viggiano. His parents were Antonio Truda and Anna Maria Solari, who were married in 1866. He had two brothers. His father and younger brother died in 1874. From the 19th century or before, it was common in Viggiano for children to learn the violin, harp or the flute at a young age. They would grow up to travel the world as musicians to earn their living. Those who showed talent went on to study a

Giuseppe Valentini

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Giuseppe Valentini (14 December 1681 – November 1753), nicknamed Straccioncino (Little Ragamuffin), was an Italian violinist, painter, poet, and composer, though he is known chiefly as a composer of inventive instrumental music. He studied under Giovanni Bononcini in Rome between 1692 and 1697. From 1710 to 1727 he served as ‘Suonator di Violino, e Componitore di Musica’ to Prince Michelangelo Caetani. He also succeeded Arcangelo Corelli as director of the concertino at San Luigi dei Francesi, from 1710 to 1741. Though during his lifetime overshadowed by the likes of Corelli, Vivaldi, and Locatelli, his contribution to Italian baroque music is noteworthy, and many of his works were published throughout Europe. Selected works Instrumental Music *op. 1: 12 Sinfonie (with Sinfonia a tre per il santissimo Natale Nr. 12) (1701 Rome) *op. 2: 7 Bizzarie per camera for 2 Violins, Viola and Basso continuo (1703 Rome) *op. 3: 12 Fantasie musicali for 2 Violins and Bass (1706 Rome) *op. 4: 7 Idee per camera for Violin and Basso continuo (1706 Rome) *op. 5: 12 Sonate a tre (Villeggiature armoniche) (1707 Rome) *op. 6: 6 Poesie: Concerti a 4 violini, violoncello e basso continuo (unpublished) *

Giuseppe Verdi

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Childhood and education#

Verdi, the first child of Carlo Giuseppe Verdi and Luigia Uttini, was born at their home in Le Roncole, a village near Busseto, then in the Taro department within the borders of the First French Empire. The baptismal register, prepared on 11 October 1813, lists his parents Carlo and Luigia as “innkeeper” and “spinner” respectively. Additionally, it lists Verdi as being “born yesterday”, but since days were often considered to begin at sunset, this could have meant either 9 or 10 October. Following his mother, Verdi always celebrated his birthday on 9 October, the day he himself believed he was born. Verdi had a younger sister, Giuseppa, who died aged 17 in 1833. She is said to have been his closest friend during childhood. From age four Verdi was given private lessons in Latin and Italian by the village schoolmaster, Baistrocchi, and at six he attended the local school. After learning to play the organ, he showed so much interest in music that his parents finally provided him with a spinet. Verdi’s gift for music was already apparent by 1820–21 when he began his association with the local church, serving in the choir, acting as an altar boy for a while, and taking organ lessons. After Baistrocchi’s death, Verdi, at the age of eight, became the official paid organist. Despite this early immersion in church life, Verdi developed a lifelong anticlericalism; in later years he reportedly warned his grandson, “Sta lontan dai pret” (‘Stay away from the priests.’). The music historian Roger Parker points out that both of Verdi’s parents belonged to families of small landowners and traders, certainly not the illiterate peasants from which Verdi later liked to present himself as having emerged… Carlo Verdi was energetic in furthering his son’s education…something which Verdi tended to hide in later life… T he picture emerges of youthful precocity eagerly nurtured by an ambitious father and of a sustained, sophisticated and elaborate formal education. In 1823, when he was 10, Verdi’s parents arranged for the boy to attend school in Busseto, enrolling him in a Ginnasio—an upper school for boys—run by Don Pietro Seletti, while they continued to run their inn at Le Roncole. Verdi returned to Busseto regularly to play the organ on Sundays, covering the distance of several kilometres on foot. At age 11, Verdi received schooling in Italian, Latin, the humanities, and rhetoric. By the time he was 12, he began lessons with Ferdinando Provesi, maestro di cappella at San Bartolomeo, director of the municipal music school and co-director of the local Società Filarmonica (Philharmonic Society). Verdi later stated: “From the ages of 13 to 18 I wrote a motley assortment of pieces: marches for band by the hundred, perhaps as many little sinfonie that were used in church, in the theatre and at concerts, five or six concertos and sets of variations for pianoforte, which I played myself at concerts, many serenades, cantatas (arias, duets, very many trios) and various pieces of church music, of which I remember only a Stabat Mater.” This information comes from the Autobiographical Sketch which Verdi dictated to the publisher Giulio Ricordi late in life, in 1879, and remains the leading source for his early life and career. Written, understandably, with the benefit of hindsight, it is not always reliable when dealing with issues more contentious than those of his childhood. The other director of the Philharmonic Society was , a wholesale grocer and distiller, who was described by a contemporary as a “manic dilettante” of music. The young Verdi did not immediately become involved with the Philharmonic. By June 1827, he had graduated with honours from the Ginnasio and was able to focus solely on music under Provesi. By chance, when he was 13, Verdi was asked to step in as a replacement to play in what became his first public event in his home town; he was an immediate success mostly playing his own music to the surprise of many and receiving strong local recognition. By 1829–30, Verdi had established himself as a leader of the Philharmonic: “none of us could rival him” reported the secretary of the organisation, Giuseppe Demaldè. An eight-movement cantata, I deliri di Saul, based on a drama by Vittorio Alfieri, was written by Verdi when he was 15 and performed in Bergamo. It was acclaimed by both Demaldè and Barezzi, who commented: “He shows a vivid imagination, a philosophical outlook, and sound judgment in the arrangement of instrumental parts.” In late 1829, Verdi had completed his studies with Provesi, who declared that he had no more to teach Verdi. At the time, Verdi had been giving singing and piano lessons to Barezzi’s daughter Margherita; by 1831, they were unofficially engaged. Verdi set his sights on Milan, then the cultural capital of northern Italy, where he applied unsuccessfully to study at the Conservatory. Barezzi made arrangements for him to become a private pupil of , who had been maestro concertatore at La Scala, and who described Verdi’s compositions as “very promising”. Lavigna encouraged Verdi to take out a subscription to La Scala, where he heard Maria Malibran in operas by Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini. Verdi began making connections in the Milanese world of music that were to stand him in good stead. These included an introduction by Lavigna to an amateur choral group, the Società Filarmonica, led by Pietro Massini. Attending the Società frequently in 1834, Verdi soon found himself functioning as rehearsal director (for Rossini’s La Cenerentola) and continuo player. It was Massini who encouraged him to write his first opera, originally titled Rocester, to a libretto by the journalist Antonio Piazza.

Giusto Fernando Tenducci

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Giusto Fernando Tenducci, sometimes called “il Senesino” (c.1735 Castration was illegal in both church and civil law, but the Roman Church employed castrati in many churches and in the Vatican until about 1902; and throughout the 17th and 18th centuries the public paid large sums of money to listen to the spectacular voices of castrati in the opera houses. In 1753, when he was about seventeen, Tenducci made his professional opera appearance in Venice, as Gasparo in Ferdinando Bertoni’s Ginevra. In 1768, he returned to London from Edinburgh where he remained for most of the rest of his life, except for a period between 1771 and 1778 when he appeared in many roles in Italy, then traveled to Paris. He taught singing to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Paris in 1777–8. Impressed with his teacher’s singing abilities, Mozart wrote a concert aria for him which is now lost (K. 315b). He returned to Italy just months before his death in January 1790 in Genoa. Marriage: 1766–1772 Although a castrato, Tenducci married 15-year-old Dorothea Maunsell secretly in 1766. The marriage was repeated in July 1767 with a licence granted by the Bishop of Waterford and Lismore. Two portraits of Tenducci were pa

Giya Kancheli

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Gia Kancheli (; 10 August 1935 – 2 October 2019) was a Georgian composer. He was born in Tbilisi, Georgia, and resided in Belgium in later life. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Kancheli lived first in Berlin, and from 1995 in Antwerp, where he became composer-in-residence for the Royal Flemish Philharmonic. He died in Tbilisi at age 84. Life In his symphonies, Kancheli’s musical language typically consists of slow scraps of minor-mode melody against long, subdued, anguished string discords. Rodion Shchedrin called Kancheli “an ascetic with the temperament of a maximalist; a restrained Vesuvius”. Kancheli wrote seven symphonies, and what he termed a liturgy for viola and orchestra, Mourned by the Wind. The Philadelphia Orchestra under Yuri Temirkanov gave the American premiere of his Fourth Symphony in 1978, not long before the cultural freeze in the United States against Soviet culture. Glasnost allowed Kancheli to regain exposure, and he began to receive frequent commissions, as well as performances in Europe and North America. Championed internationally by Lera Auerbach, Dennis Russell Davies, Jansug Kakhidze, Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet, Kim Kashkashian, Mstisl